Stuck With Me
by BroflovskiFan
Summary: Act Two: Matt's here to stay for now, but the fun is just beginning. Has Mello bitten off more than he can chew after chasing Matt down, or will Matt be the one in over his head? The Wammy's House prequel to Death Note. Matt/Mello. Canonesque.
1. Down the Rabbit Hole

Bonjour! Long time no see. This is a fun l'il RP I've been having with Miss Ray of The Interwebs and we thought the Death Note community might enjoy it ^-^. This is our joint headcanon back-story for Wammy's, and how Mello (Ray) and Matt (moi) met. We've been having barrels of fun writing this. Multi-chaptered! Hope you enjoy! xx

Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole

It was ten minutes into the lesson when the classroom door opened and one of the instructors comes in, dragging a new boy by the arm. He was thin and pale, as though he hadn't seen much daylight, and wore oversized goggles over his eyes.

"Alright, I'm comin' already!" Matt huffs. Guess it wasn't a good idea to try and skip out on his first day. The instructor drags him to the front of the small room before leaving.

The teacher smiles as though nothing unusual had happened. "Class, we have a new student joining us today." He turns to the boy. "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

The boy thrusts his hands into his pockets, hiding the console he had been holding. He looks out at the children in the room. What kind of place was this anyway?

"I'm 'Matt'," he says, putting air quotations around the name. He always thought secret identity names would be much cooler. Matt was boring, more boring than his real name. "I'm from not here, and don't wanna be neither." He sighs in annoyance then slinks over to a vacant seat before the instructor gives him permission to do so.

New students weren't an uncommon occurrence. In fact, those at the school often came and went, either testing out into other private schools or just not meeting the standard. But Mello prided himself in knowing when new students were coming. After all, they were here to learn how to be detectives. So this unexpected new student makes him frown. His frown only deepens at the new boy's obvious reluctance to be here. It was a privilege that only the smartest got.

He focuses up front when the lecture resumes, taking notes and pointedly ignoring the new student next to him. Nothing was written on the board; they had to take notes just by hearing. As the lecture progressed the teacher did write a few things but they didn't match up with the topic that he was speaking about. It was the students' jobs to make the connections.

Matt slumps into his seat. He takes out the notebook and pen that he'd been given. They're so boring-looking, so he scribbles a rocketship on the front cover quickly. He'll do better later.

He plays the good student for about ten minutes, then gets bored. To curb his ennui, he starts writing his notes in binary. Ten minutes later, he's bored again. His eyes scan the room; there was only one computer in the whole thing. What was this, Redneckville? Didn't look like a specialty school to him.

He looks at his fellow students; bunch of weirdos in his opinion. The blonde kid sitting next to him looked like a cross between Barbie and Marilyn Manson, and there was some other kid in his friggin' pajamas. He looks back at his notebook and draws a picture of Kirby as Darth Vader.

The bell rang; they were excused. "Mello," the teacher calls.

The blonde goes and stands in front of the desk. The teacher rises to make sure Matt doesn't leave just yet. "Matt, this is Mello. He'll show you around the school. And the two of you will be roommates in the dormitories."

Matt stares at Barbie Manson without expression, this 'Mello', and stifles a groan. He just wanted to get back to his game. And roommates? Barf. He better not complain about how late he stays up playing games and coding. He frowns, leaving his hands in his pockets. "Whatever," is all Matt says in response.

Mello's eyes narrow and he clenches one fist behind his back so the teacher doesn't notice. It's in full view of Matt, though. Mello had received too many lectures about his temper. He's not going to blow up in front of the teacher. "Yes sir," he tells him, keeping his voice carefully under control.

'Oh God, why me?' he thinks. As the teacher turns away he shoots Matt a hateful glance. Then he turns on his heel and walks out, giving the brunette another look. He'll do his duty but he doesn't have to make friends or anything. Unfortunately, Mello has too much of a tendency to view everyone at the school as a potential rival to make any friends, really.

Matt sees the other's display of aggression and snorts openly. So he was one of those guys, thinks they're real tough. They were a dime a dozen back home. Not so tough when you sell their online banking information though. He wonders if this kid has a credit card.

In response to Mello's glare he pulls out his console, turning back to his paused game. He couldn't be bothered with all this. He follows the other, his eyes focused on the game. "Where to, Kirk?" He asks without enthusiasm.

Mello takes a deep breath and visibly takes control of his flaring temper. With effort. How had he missed a student being transferred..? Had Near known? That thought makes him wince. Damn it.

"Next class. Forensics," he tells Matt, his voice terse. "Then lunch. Then algebra. Then a study period and dinner. One more study period then lights out." He glances at Matt and regrets it when he sees he's absorbed in a handheld device. His hand twitches and without a word he gets out a small piece of chocolate, unwraps it and pops it in his mouth. Sugar helped calm his temper a little and focus. "If you just stay by me I'll show you where everything is today. Tomorrow you're on your own."

'Forensics,' Matt thought. Well that didn't sound terribly dull at least. But two study periods? And after dinner too? Hadn't they ever heard of down time? "So what, all you do is study?" He asks incredulously. What had he gotten himself into?

And something else is bothering him. "There a computer lab or somethin' around? Coding class, something like that?" He's afraid of the answer, afraid he won't like it. He shuffles his feet nervously.

Mello nods. "After dinner it's more optional," he tells Matt. "But there's a shit-ton of homework that has to be turned in every day." The other question makes him glance, rather unwillingly, at the new student.

"The computer lab is closed except for the Friday class. Each student has a laptop to do research with." In many ways the system was set up to be cracked. It was expected, though not part of their grade.

Mello turns and starts walking to the next class. They only had fifteen minutes between classes and it's a ways down the hall.

Matt shrugs at Mello's explanation of 'study time'. So if he just got the work done fast he could go back to his own stuff. Whatever; it wasn't like schoolwork was ever hard.

So there was a computer lab, but it was hardly used. He sighs loudly; what a waste. He'd fix that though; he'd picked a lock or two before. And if there was a wireless security system, even better. He'd just have to be sneaky about it.

He can't help but feel frustrated though. What the hell was he doing at this school? He had thought this would be some sort of technology-centred school for people like him, but that didn't seem to be the case. He fights down the twinge of panic in the back of his mind with a frown and a particularly brutal K.O.

"Are the laptops any good, or lame like everything else so far? I bet they run Windows, without any mods," he says, snickering a bit at his private joke.

The blonde feels his temper flare anew when the new kid calls the school lame. He grips the cross he wears so hard the metal bites into his hand and stops walking. The hallway is empty.

He takes a deep breath and counts to ten and is able to keep his voice almost even. "The laptops are top of the line. We get new ones each semester," he informs Matt. "And if you insult this school one more time, we are going to have a problem, got it? You may not want to be here-" and how the hell is he here if he hadn't studied his ass off and tested in?! "-but everyone else is proud to be here. So you need to shut it."

He looks up when Mello stops walking, watching his obviously irritated demeanor with amusement. He wondered if he was going to deck him. This kid sure had one short temper. He's relieved to hear the computers are top of the line though, but people sometimes flung around that phrase without knowing what it really meant.

Something else catches Matt's attention though, so much so that he pauses his game. "Wait, so you guys all want to be here? No one else is being punished or forced?" Was he really the only kid that got stuck between a rock and a hard place? Great. He was a delinquent in a school of purists. This just kept getting better.

Mello openly stares at this question. Punished? "Wait..." He's too stunned to be angry at this point. "Do you even know what this school is?"

Dropping his hands from clutching the cross, he puts them in his pockets and leans against the wall. Five minutes until class. Time enough to speak to the new kid a little. He'd need to do some research that night, even if he had to stay up past curfew to do it. Just who is this kid? They're not supposed to research each other past the school yard. In fact it's next to impossible to dig up such information. Mello had applied all of his skills towards finding Near out without any luck. But this kid is new and obviously some kind of weird exception...maybe.

Mello's stare makes Matt uncomfortable, so he looks back down at his console. He had been told a bit about the school, but not much. It had all happened so fast; he hadn't even been in England for 24 hours yet. His stuff wasn't even set up.

"Some school for 'People like me,' or something like that. I don't know, just thought it beat juvie ya know?" He didn't mention that there'd been some deliberation to send him to jail once he was old enough. Kids his age went to juvenile detention first, jail afterwards. He shakes his head. He should have been more careful; he shouldn't have gotten caught.

He wonders if he shouldn't have told Mello this. It was clear he wasn't like him. They'd told him not to reveal too much about himself, but he had never really cared much for rules anyways.

The blonde tilts his head back, considering this. The time until the bell rings is ticking down. But he has a handle on that still. May as well; not like it was classified information inside these walls. And from what the other had said, Mello had to have a bit of a grudging respect for him. Someone from outside the system that had been skilled enough to get in? Who had seen more of the world probably than anyone here if he'd done something that bad. Another rival. Great. Just fucking great.

He takes a breath and looks back at the other boy. "This is a school for exceptionally talented orphans," he says in an almost monotonous voice. "We receive training to be...well detectives basically. Have you heard of L? The best detective in the world. This is where he was trained. And the school is operating to train his successor."

Matt thinks about that. "Talented orphans, huh..." Well at least they had something right there. He still doesn't get why they want him entirely; he was no detective. But a hacker-detective sounded kind of...cool. He would definitely need a better secret identity name though. Way cooler.

He blinks at the name Mello drops. L. He'd heard it before, in chat rooms in the dark corners of the internet that he so often frequented. A mischievous grin spreads across his face.

"I know that name. That's kinda cool, I guess." So they thought he could be a successor to L, huh? He didn't care much for the title, but imagine the resources at his disposal...

Mello crosses his arms. His temper has cooled considerably now that the other boy is showing a little more respect for the school. But he hadn't said all that just to brag.

If he can't dig up information that's been buried, why not find it at the source? And if this boy didn't know about the school, he might not know the rules of the game. Or have respect for those rules if he did know. "So what'd you do?" He asks casually. "That they were thinking of sending you to juvie?"

The other boy's question makes Matt smirk. So he was curious, huh? He ought to be; he was pretty awesome after all. And even if he had gotten in trouble for it, he was proud of his work. It had been exceptionally difficult. But he liked a challenge, at least when it came to games and computers.

He decides to play it aloof. "Oh, I was already in juvie; they pulled me out. Only three days though." He leans in. "You're a detective right? Or a wannabe detective?" His smirk widens. "So I'll give you a hint."

He debates what to tell him. "I already hinted at the timeline... But people were mad. I'm real good with computers, see. Oh, and I'm from New York." He's not sure what detective skills these kids have learned, but it should be an interesting experiment at least.

Before Mello can respond, the bell rings. But that doesn't stop the look of curiosity and slight triumph that crosses his expression. Like his temper, Mello isn't exactly good at keeping his emotions and thoughts hidden. Oh he could, but not without effort. That information was enough to go on.

He stores the information in the back of his mind for later so he can focus on the next class. It's more hands-on than the other, with lab work. Mello had heard once it's actual crime evidence they're studying but he doesn't know if that's true or not. Maybe it was evidence from old cases that isn't really needed anymore. He knows they wouldn't sell Wammy's things from live cases.

To Matt, forensics seems puzzle-like; here's what we know, fill in the blanks. It was simply a matter of putting it together correctly; almost like assembling a computer. There's a photograph of what looks like dried blood as part of the evidence. He wonders if it's real. Maybe one day he'd see a photo of a dead body; that would be so awesome, he thinks. He puts his earbuds in while he works; music helps him concentrate.

After forensics is lunch. Mello leads Matt there silently, his mind elsewhere. The students are seated and one from each table serves the others when the food is brought out. It's nothing fancy but with good ingredients. Sandwiches and soup with cookies for dessert. Just enough is given to each student without any seconds. Mainly it's designed so that the students can eat and study if they need.

Laptops, books, and notebooks come out of bags. There's some talk but it's hushed, as if they're in a library. Mello gets out his algebra notebook and does the last few equations. Each is framed as a word question involving a case. He had been a little occupied that weekend and hadn't finished the homework.

The school was bigger than Matt had first thought. Lunch is super healthy, which he guessed was fine, but if there wasn't a pizza and burgers day he'd be awfully pissed. Or whatever the British equivalent to pizza was. Oh God, did they even have hot dogs here?

Matt folds his knees up towards himself and rests his head on them. His earbuds are blaring as he eats with one hand and plays his console with the other. It's something he learned to balance a long time ago. He doesn't take much interest in his fellow students. They weren't like him, so they didn't matter. He was happier in his own world, his eyes on a game, ears tuned to music, shut off from them.

Nobody pays any attention to Matt playing his game. Heck, a boy at another table is playing with Legos. Mello finishes his homework after a few minutes and looks around, just beginning to eat. They have a whole hour for lunch so there's no rush. Some students who are done eating wander off to the dormitories or grounds. Mello glances at Matt and sighs. He gets out his laptop and taps his knee thoughtfully. New York. Computers. A crime, if he'd been sent to juvie. Something big enough to make Wammy's house take notice.

He pauses. No. It couldn't be that easy. He gets online and begins looking though recent New York headlines. And of course it isn't. He gets back a few days and...it skips a date. He frowns and clicks through it again. The headlines for that day have been removed. The information was deleted. Mello frowns irritably. He'd have to dig deeper into the internet. Find people talking about it.

He searches through New York forums for a little while. The only thing he comes across is a picture of...porn playing on the Times Square TVs. What? He clicks on the image to see its source but the website's been taken down. Well then...

The bell rings. Damn. He closes his laptop and nudges Matt. "Next class," he says and turns to put his laptop away.

Matt looks at Mello's laptop. He can't see much from this angle, but it looks shiny enough: at least it was a new model. Probably a standard setup, with some fancy programs thrown in. No upgrades or mods from the looks of it. Nice, but not very powerful. He could fix that. If he was given one, he'd sync it with his others, stick in an internal hard drive or two, few tweaks to the motherboard, no big. Customization wasn't too bad. It wouldn't be good for any big jobs, but he'd be able to get away with some smaller stuff, no prob.

He's compiling a list of possible mods in his head when the bell rings. He nods at Mello, following him casually.

"So what do you do for fun around here?" He asks with a bored expression as they walk down the hall.

Mello's mind is on the problem he'd been set to cracking. He glances at Matt, a little irritated. "There's a tennis court and a pool and hot tub," he tells him. "The hot tub is closed except on Fridays and the weekend though. There's a game room but it's not up for much."

He smirks and shrugs. "We really are here mostly to study, Matt. There's a town nearby we're allowed to go to on weekends. Arcades and things there. It's a university town so they don't question unfamiliar young faces."

Matt blows a breath, fluffing up his bangs, in annoyance. Lame, lame and lame. What a bunch of boring kids. Not that it mattered too much; he had always made his own fun.

But the town nearby? That interested him. He wondered how difficult it would be to get cigarettes around here. In New York it was easy. Just do a little favour or two and he was set up for months. But the ones he'd tried to sneak over had been confiscated almost immediately. Maybe he could get one of the university kids to help him out. And an arcade...he grins at this.

"So all you really do is study then? Bo-Ring!" He utters, emphasizing the last word.

Mello gets out a box of chocolate from his bag and pops it in his mouth. He prefers chocolate bars but for the day small pieces are better. Less of an effort and less noticeable if he eats some during class.

When his temper is under control he shrugs. "We're a bunch of kids with unusual intelligences and with technology provided. We all make our own fun here. It's an unofficial part of the teaching. Good detectives need to be creative, not just clever. We operate in legal bounds but only just. Thinking outside the box is necessary."

Mello's answer makes Matt want to puke, and when back is turned he makes a gagging gesture. What a straight-edge: he didn't look it for his style but he was definitely a square. Whatever; he'd best leave him alone after today. He didn't need friends, especially not from these types.

The kid sure ate a lot of chocolate though. Matt had a sweet tooth himself, but this kid was something else. "What's with all the chocolate anyways?" He asks, in a bit of a rude tone, not appreciating the lecture on creativity he just got. He'd show him creative; just wait.

Mello stops walking abruptly and crosses his arms. He'd given the brochure lecture about the lack of resources available. They really were expected to do it for themselves. Some students collaborated but for the most part they have to find things to do on their own.

"The chocolate helps me not punch anyone," he says bluntly. "And if you're going to treat me like an idiot for answering your questions with how they're supposed to be answered, don't ask me." He clenches a fist. "I'm not going to take shit from some creepy little pervert." Referring to the picture he'd seen. There's a connection there and he is going to find out what it is.

Ah, so the chocolate helped him not flip out apparently, Matt thought with amusement. And they were sharing a room. He wondered what he'd do if it all suddenly went missing. He'd have to try that out sometime.

But he wants to push him further, see his 'self control.' "So ya always do what you're supposed to, huh?" He asks mockingly. His grin spreads at Mello's last comment. So he was onto him, huh. Must have been what he was doing at lunch. He felt so special. But how much did he know...? He shrugged non-committally, though his grin remained. "You're just jealous," he says flippantly.

Deep, subtle breath. One. Two. Three. "Jealous of what?" Mello retorts bitingly. "I want to be here. You get to be here or go to prison. That's the deal right? Nothing to be jealous of there."

He would've said more but the bell rings so he turns and walks into the classroom. He's still irritated though. Why had they put them together? There had to be a reason.

Matt's expression quickly goes sour at Mello's retort. He glares at him - not that the other would notice with his goggles. So he shrugs again, trying to let the comment slide, though it stung.

This is such bullshit, he thought to himself. How was he the only one that got duped into being there? Nothing had really gone fairly in his life, but he felt this was a whole new level of shittiness. He wonders how difficult it would be to run away from here if it came to that.

Matt sulks into the classroom behind Mello, though doesn't sit next to him. Screw that guy.

Matt distracts himself with algebra, an easy feat. What they were learning was far more complicated than his public school, but still not difficult. It wasn't so different from programming; learn the formula, apply it correctly, then plug it all in. He finishes the assigned problems early, then spends the rest of the time drawing a detailed image of Mello as a lady, complete with dress.

It's a hollow victory for Mello. After his temper cools he feels like shit for having said what he did. He reminds himself they're going to be sharing a room. And more than any other boy here, Matt could make his life hell. And certainly would. So after class he gets up and waits for Matt by the door to show him to the dormitories and their room.

"Look- I'm sorry. It was rude of me to say that." He hesitates but shrugs and looks away. "You probably are more interesting than we are. We've earned places here but you've earned a place here or in juvie. None of us have that claim." He meets Matt's eyes, as well as he can through those goggles. "I'll still punch you if you call us lame but since we're stuck together...truce?"

Matt's surprised and a bit annoyed that Mello has waited for him. He responds to the apology with an air of indifference. "Whatever dude. Just don't make me go Konami on your ass." He walks past him, whipping out his console again.

"As if you could." Annoyed, but keeping it carefully under control for now, Mello watches Matt for a moment. "You're going the wrong way."

And without another word he grabs Matt's coat and tows him down the hall toward the dormitories. That apology had taken a lot of effort for him and it's all he can do to keep his temper under control yet again. Damn asshole.

"Don't mess with my L337 skills-hey!" He says as he's roughly yanked in the opposite direction. "I knew that," he huffs unreasonably. He's tempted to yank his coat away.

He follows Mello to the dorms, stopping in front of what was presumably their room. He waits for Mello to unlock the door before stepping in. On one side of the room there's a bed and desk almost completely covered by boxes. They nearly reach the ceiling and some are overflowing with various objects. Matt looks up at the mess and nods in approval.

"Oh, my stuff got here."


	2. Grey Lines

Hello again!~ ^-^ Many thanks to everyone who read, followed &amp; faved our story! It is much appreciated!~ If you liked it, or even if you hated it, please R&amp;R! It will make us le happy~

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Chapter 2: Grey Lines

"Oh, my stuff got here," says Matt with an air of the obvious.

Mello looks up at the impressive stack of boxes. "I can see that." He walks over to his side and flops down on the bed, putting his arms behind his head and looking up at the ceiling for a few moments.

The walls of Mello's side of the room are almost completely covered. Pictures of evidence he'd gotten for forensics homework. Papers with ornate scripts on them, some in a different language. In the spaces between the papers, he's written things; scratched words into the paint, even. It's clear this has been his room for a long time. On the ceiling there's more pictures, these more colourful. Paintings mostly, though are some photographs as well. Landscapes. Animals. Calming things. He's not particularly attached but the counsellor had recommended them to help with his temper. The ceiling had been the only spot left by then. Even though he hadn't had a roommate he'd followed the rules; he knew he could be assigned one at any time.

Matt looks up at the stack of boxes, wondering where to begin. He clears the ones off the desk first, figuring it best to start with the heavy equipment. Reading the labels, he opens one of the larger boxes and pulls out his desktop, the biggest computer by far. After about 15 minutes he's taken out the desktop, two smaller laptops and two monitors that serve as additional screens. It was barely a third of his stuff, but by the time it's set up, the desk is covered. He sets the monitors on the desk's upper shelf and the three computers on the main area. He works on untangling the wires and after another 15 minutes, he's hooked everything up. Thank God he'd brought several power bars; there weren't nearly enough outlets in the room. He tosses the empty boxes into the hallway for the moment, stopping to catch his breath. There's still a lot of boxes; he debates what to tackle next.

Matt glances over at Mello's side; well, at least he wasn't a neat freak. Those were the worst. "What're all those pictures?" He asks curiously.

Mello had gotten out his laptop to do some homework. He'd do an assignment then see if he can find anything else out about Matt. He's lying on his bed with the laptop on his stomach, looking up when Matt asks a question. He looks from him to the wall. "Pictures of evidence from cases I found interesting in class," he tells him. "The written pages are mostly from different philosophers. I like the Greek ones the most. There's a few from novels, or pages of the Bible that stood out to me." He's not ashamed to admit that his studies covered that too. He decides to skip over the thoughts he'd written or scratched into the wall.

"Huh." Matt peers at Mello's side of the room a little more closely; he'll have a better look when the other isn't around sometime. He turns his attention back to his boxes.

After opening two more boxes, Matt's whipped out a PS4, XBox One and old N64, which he sets behind the computers in a row. There's not much room for anything else, so he leaves the games he brought - there were at least 100, a fraction of what he owned - in their box and stuffs it unceremoniously under the desk. He sticks his smaller box of old computer parts under there too. Unpacking is too much work.

There's a small closet and some space under the bed, so he empties the smaller boxes of clothes and dumps them in there without much thought or care for neatness. Then there's his secret stash of American junk food, which thankfully hadn't been confiscated along with his cigarettes; he dumps that in with the clothes under his bed. Finally done, he flings himself onto the bed and emits a loud sigh. He takes a look at his side of his bedroom; between the computers, games, clothes and junk spewing out from under the bed, it was already a huge mess.

It was a start, at least.

Matt rummages out a bag of Cheetos and throws them at Mello. "Where you're from, they got those?" He asks.

Mello had watched Matt unpack from the corner of his eye. He had felt a little consternation at how much Matt owns. How does an orphan afford that much technology? But he keeps it to himself and resumes his search through the internet to find out who he is.

When he looks over again the other side of the room has gone from being a technology center to a huge mess. He raises an eyebrow. Then he's distracted by the Cheetos. He grabs the bag and opens it. He'd had them before, of course; he's not that cut off from the world. He usually only has chocolate though. "Not that uncivilized," he tells Matt. "Besides, I've been in England for several years now." He eats a few of the Cheetos, looking back at his laptop and clicking through a few things. Still no luck finding out about Matt.

After Matt tosses the bag over he leans backwards off the edge of the bed, watching Mello upside down. "So you would know if there're any big cities nearby then," he says. From what he had seen of Winchester, it was a small town, and that didn't suit him at all. If London or another big city was near it'd be a good escape. He was too used to bustling New York.

Matt looks at his own messy set-up and groans. "They'd only let me take a few things," he says mournfully. "How am I supposed to get stuff done with only this?" Still upside down, he reaches for the power button on the desktop and moves the wireless keyboard to his stomach, watching the screen come to life.

"Nope," Mello says instantly and without any hesitation. He can think on his feet. Matt is a criminal. He's here instead of prison. He's not about to tell him anything about the surrounding countryside.

"Well I don't know what you mean by 'stuff' but you're here to learn and to study. You have enough games to occupy yourself in between that. Why are you worried?" He eats a Cheeto and continues looking. He comes across another picture. Another one of porn being played on the Times Square screens. This one is different though and when he clicks on it, the website doesn't load. It's different than before. This one hasn't been taken down; it's just private. He smirks and sits up. Something big like this, seen by so many people, can't be covered up entirely. This was someone who didn't want their internet voice to be silenced and was clever enough to keep their site up. He bends over the computer, set to cracking the website. His skills in this area may pale in comparison to his new roommate's but a few years of training is more than enough for the protections this person had set up around the information they'd posted.

The absolute negative to his question makes the panic Matt felt earlier return. "What's the closest city to here then?" He wanted to know just how far off the radar he was; it makes him feel a little ill.

He logs in to one of the private hacker message boards he's been a member of for years. He'd been on every day since he joined, and he's not surprised that some of the others were wondering if he was dead or had been implicated. Using his handle 'd1g1t', he assures his curious online friends, feeling slightly better about his predicament knowing he was missed. He can see boards up about 'the Times Square incident' but he doesn't look at them - Mello might see. He was sure his handle came up once or twice in there; the internet was full of speculation. There was also a personal message from a prior client, but he didn't look at it just yet.

Still upside down, he leaves the board and starts analyzing the school's security setup. This was very important information to have; he couldn't do anything until he knew what he was dealing with.

Mello pauses and looks at Matt across the room. His laptop is loading the website he'd just broken into.

His eyes are narrowed shrewdly and he gives his roommate a curious look. "Why are you so eager to escape?" He asks bluntly. "Because it's pretty obvious that's why you're asking about the cities. You've just gotten unpacked. You're at an exclusive school specifically designed to educate orphans so that even if they don't get to be the next L they'll still be someone great in the world. It's more than making a living; they can be rich." He glances at the computers. "Though you're already doing pretty well for yourself. But the point is, a lot of boys work really hard to be here. You're talented enough that they brought you here against your will. And you're wanting to run off. I don't think they'll give you another chance to attend this school if you so clearly don't want to be here. If you leave and get caught it'll only be prison for you. So why?"

Matt's taken off-guard by the bombardment of questions. "I never said I wanted to escape," he mumbles. "All my favourite stuff is here now."

He does want out though. He wants to be back in New York, in the big city where he was born and raised. It was where he was meant to be. But...

"A guy like me isn't cut out for a place like this," he says with some hesitation. "I'm a city person. That's where I belong. That's where I work best. And it'd only be prison if I get caught." He didn't seem to be on a good streak with that though.

All this talk of home makes him realize the distance, and he feels an unwanted burning behind his eyes. No; he was tougher than this. He wasn't going to get homesick. He would adapt.

Mello continues to study Matt for a few moments then looks away and starts to peruse the website that had been hidden. "The nearby town is pretty big," he tells Matt. "Not huge, like New York. But it's a pretty bustling place. I already told you we're allowed there on weekends."

It only takes Mello a few moments to find the post connected to that picture. While he reads it he reaches for another Cheeto. He puts it in his mouth and gets to the story under the picture, skimming it...and chokes. He dissolves into a violent coughing fit which then becomes laughter. He falls back on his bed, his eyes closed, and laughs up at the ceiling, shaking.

So there was a town nearby...Matt would have to do some research on it, try to get in touch with people who could get him in touch with smokes. He was feeling crankier than usual, and he suspected it was because he had been four days without one, not since before juvie. The weekend was a long way off, but if he set his sights on his goal, it would come faster, he was sure.

He continues analyzing the school's security system - it wasn't bad, higher than any school he'd ever seen. He'd put it as a high 2, low 3. It was his way of grading the difficulty of infiltrating something. Times Square was a 4. He hadn't yet cracked a 5.

He's distracted by Mello's sudden laughter, then choking. He's surprised to hear such a sound come from such a serious boy. Matt sits upright on the bed, tilting his head in curiosity at the other. "What?" He asks.

Mello just shakes his head and rolls onto his side facing the wall, pressing a hand to his mouth in an attempt to stop the fit. His black-clad shoulders continue to shake and at least a minute passes before he's able to get himself under control. He has more experience controlling his temper than this type of thing.

When he can finally sit up he revolves the laptop so the small article with the picture at the top is visible from the other side of the room. He shakes his head. "I can't believe you did that." His mouth twitches but he doesn't let himself laugh anymore. It'd be just his luck to get the hiccups. Nobody would take him seriously ever again if word of that got out among the other students.

Matt waits for the other to calm down, though laughter is contagious, so he giggles a bit himself. He sees the article along with photo and grins triumphantly. He shrugs it off, though he can't help but be delighted with the recognition. "23 screens, 12 companies, all at the same time," he says proudly. He can't help but brag a little. "It was no big." This was a lie; it had taken two months of preparation and 4 hours of go time just before.

He looks at Mello with a somewhat serious expression. "The police tried to talk to me like it was a bad thing, but even now, I don't regret it." Pleased to receive his recognition, he lies back and stretches out on the bed, making two V's with his fingers for Victory.

This only makes Mello shake his head more. He picks up his laptop and flops back too, putting it on his chest like before and returning to his homework. "It was a terrible thing to do," he says but sounds more amused than reproving.

And inwardly he's calculating what would be required to pull that off. A boy at his age...no wonder Wammy's House had jumped at the chance to bring him here instead of letting him going to rot in some prison.

His good mood fades when he realizes that Matt really is just as good, if not better, than him, and possibly another rival for Near. And Matt had something none of the boys here had gotten: real world experience. Irritated, he closes the laptop and sets it on the bedside table. He folds his hands over his stomach and stares at the 'soothing' images on the ceiling, brooding.

Matt eyes Mello, unsure of what to make of his comment. "Why?" He asks. "It's just sex. Everybody fucks." He chooses to ignore the massive security breach that was the larger problem.

He pulls his two laptops over to his bed and props himself up with a pillow of Link's shield from Legend of Zelda, getting to work. He angles the screens so Mello can't see them. It takes him about half an hour of sorting through maps and codes, but he thinks he's found of way of getting into the school's security system. He smirks triumphantly. There were so many possibilities once he succeeded. He could block off his computer's data, for one, so they couldn't trace what he was doing. He bet he could get into any of the laptops on the system too, which meant he could also use the computers in the lab without actually being in the lab. He explores the system a little more. He sees the sprinkler and fire alarm system are run electronically as well. His smirk widens; this could amuse him for a while.

He glances at Mello; he doesn't seem to be paying attention, which is good. He looks at the other boy's laptop; oh, the possibilities. He couldn't quite help but squirm a little in delight. He follows Mello's line of sight. "Why do you have cool stuff on the walls but really lame stuff on the ceiling? Did your girlfriend decorate that part or somethin'?"

The blonde is just considering getting on more of the homework for Wednesday when Matt speaks again. He's so used to being alone in his room that this grates on him a little.

Turning his head he looks at the other. "Girlfriend?" He asks, raising an eyebrow. "Have you seen any girls at this school? That's one distraction we're not allowed."

Mello takes a deep breath and sits up, swinging to his feet. It's getting closer to dinner time but he doesn't feel like doing homework. He'll work on some after dinner and finish it after PE the next day. He gets a book from the overcrowded shelf in the corner. "The guidance counsellor required it after I punched a hole in the wall," he admits. He jerks his thumb at the thin wood of the closet door.

Matt blinks in surprise at this news. He hadn't noticed any women, but he hadn't really been looking either. "That's too bad," he murmurs, though he doesn't mind entirely. Real women were pretty to look at, but his videogame women were way cooler.

His eyes follow the other as he moves, then dart over to the repaired area of the wall. He snorts. "So what pissed you off that badly?" He asks with rapt amusement. Matt closes the screens of his laptops; he'll figure the rest out later. He sets them away and pulls out a gaming system and one of the monitors; he was in the mood for some Mortal Kombat. It would help him vent some of his frustration at his predicament.

Mello shrugs, bringing the book and his laptop over to his desk. He pulls out a notebook and works on some code. He's decided he's going to reinforce the security on his laptop. If Matt is able to pull off that stunt, Mello doubts he can make the security on this little machine good enough to defend against him. At the very least maybe he can make it complex enough that Matt might lose interest? Either way, it will be a challenge.

"Having to work with another student." He taps his finger on the desk, looking at the screen. "A boy I particularly can't stand."

He turns in his chair and looks at Matt. "I thought of something. The L thing is the top goal of the school but a lot of students test out and are accepted at other schools, even universities. Wammy's is one of the top schools in England. Stay a semester or two here and you could apply to almost anywhere and they'd consider you." He shrugs and turns back to his work.

Matt sets up the game, though he keeps the volume low so as not to disturb Mello too much. He selects his favourite player, Reptile. He listens to Mello as he adjusts the settings, and can't help but laugh. "So that's why you didn't have a roommate? Lucky me."

He works through the game, but even the hardest Com players aren't much of a challenge anymore. He connects to his live account to see if anyone good is online.

He laughs good-naturedly at Mello's suggestion. "Maybe. I don't think I'll go to university though. Don't need it. And I got clients already." He only had a few, but if the online community manages to trace his stunt back to his handle, he'll have more.

Matt finds another player online with a high ranking. He requests a fight and waits for the other to accept.

Mello rolls his eyes. "Well I was thinking it would be a way out of here for you, to convince them you'd gone straight. Go to a university, probably with scholarship. And you'd be back in a city of your choosing."

He starts typing but is only partly concentrating on it. "And no, that's not why I didn't have a roommate. There's just not that many students here. It's never been necessary. A lot of students don't have roommates."

He pauses and is silent for several moments, directing more of his attention to his computer and scribbling down a quick equation then typing more. "And I think when it's necessary, the school tries to match students up. Based on skills, personalities..." He trails off, his fingers moving swiftly over the keyboard. He'd realized something. He has contacts in the town. Men who keep tabs on the best students for him so he knows their movements during their weekends. He'd have to contact them about Matt before then. 'Maybe the school knows I'll keep an eye on him?' he wonders. Though if Matt bolts, Mello wouldn't stop him. He might find him if the school demanded it; but not stop him.

Matt shrugs. "Eh, whatever," he says dismissively. It wasn't about convincing them, it was about doing his time. But the match-up theory was interesting. Why would have he been set up with angry Goth Barbie then? He'd have to think about that. He looks at the Mello typing away furiously on his laptop. He'd have to tamper with it sometime, Matt thought mischievously before turning back to his game. He puts on a pair of headphones and turns up the volume; the other had accepted. Within moments he was entirely absorbed in the game. Ah, this was much better. He stifles a yawn, the jet lag starting to catch up to him.

Mello works on his computer until the bell rings for dinner then he closes it and packs it up with some homework to take into the dining hall. Some students just eat quickly and return to their rooms or the library but Mello prefers having work with him during meals. If a student slips behind at this school it's next to impossible to get caught back up.

He pauses at the door. "Coming?" He asks Matt. Then opens it and heads out.

Matt's so absorbed in his game he doesn't hear the dinner bell until Mello is at the door, saying something to him. He can't hear over the headphones. "Gimme a sec, I just gotta kill this guy," he says, his eyes not leaving the screen.

Since there's students of different nationalities at the school the cooks try to do a variety of different things for dinner, which is a larger meal than either breakfast or lunch. Tonight it's Italian. They have soup and bread sticks then lasagna. Dessert is a soft dark cake. The older boys are allowed a little wine with the meal. Like at lunch, the tables are served by students. Saving the clink of tableware, the room is almost as silent as at lunch.

It's about 15 minutes later when Matt figures out where Mello had gone and goes off to find the dining hall. It takes him a little while; it doesn't help that he's looking more at his console than his surroundings. He slouches towards Mello, sitting a couple of seats away but not far. He's just as silent as at the previous meal, though he does notice the wine with some curiosity. "So who do you gotta pay to get some of that?" He asks, gesturing towards a nearby table with the older boys.

The table server gives Matt a slightly irritated look when he sits down and gets up to get him a plate and bowl. Mello is already eating and working on forensics homework. He notices Matt come in but doesn't say anything.

When Matt asks about the wine the table goes, if possible, even quieter than before. Mello breaks the silence since he was the one assigned to showing Matt around, which includes informing him of the rules. "That's only for the upper classmen," he says dismissively. "It's not about paying. And none of the staff take bribes." It doesn't make it impossible to get things in. Students are just required to find outside sources and do the work if there's something they want that badly. Not that it's encouraged, by any means. It's just not spoken aloud at the dinner table.

Matt's too absorbed in his game to notice the dirty look in his direction. Not that he would have cared anyways. But he does notice the table's reaction to his question about the wine. Seems like the others were even more tight-assed than Mello, he thought with some disdain. Some sheltered kids who'd never done anything wrong, never questioned a voice of authority. So. Lame.

He turns his head back to his game, ignoring the stares. "Was just askin'," He mutters irritably, though it was directed at the others more than Mello. He'd have to be careful about hiding his cigarettes once he got them, though it would be tough to withhold the smell from a roommate. He hopes Mello isn't a narc. He spends the rest of the meal fixed on his game.

After dinner when they're walking back to the room, Mello looks around casually to make sure they're by themselves. Most of the students are out by the pool or on the grounds for the last of the daylight. "It's not that we don't break rules," he comments. "We just don't do it openly. And it's considered...to use the English phrase for it, bad form, to ask other students about it. If there's something you want, nobody in the school grounds is going to help you unless you're already collaborating on it. In which case you approach the other student privately, not at the dinner table."

It's certainly interesting to note that the school has an open policy. But still... "Didn't know the others cared so much about social etiquette," Matt says moodily. It wasn't even that he'd wanted the wine; he'd never drank alcohol before. He had just been curious is all.

Mello smirks and opens the bedroom door. "The school doesn't really care. But like a lot of things here, it's an unofficial part of the training."

Mello goes to his bed, crouches down and gets a bottle of vodka and two tumbler glasses out from under it. He offers a sly smile to Matt. "Want some?"


	3. Field Day

Thanks for the faves and follows! Here's chapter 3, enjoy ^-^. R&amp;R! xo

Chapter 3: Field Day

Matt's face lights up when Mello unexpectedly pulls a bottle of clear liquor from under his bed. Well, he hadn't been expecting that from someone like him. Maybe he hadn't judged him entirely correctly.

Matt doesn't know what type it is, but he's curious nonetheless. He grins. "Awesome," he says. "You totally just levelled up."

Mello chuckles and pours them both a little. The vodka is expensive and he only had the one bottle. Besides it's strong enough that not much is needed. Mello liked a buzz on some evenings but had never gotten drunk. The school is too important to him to risk it with something stupid.

Holding his own glass Mello carries the other over to Matt. "Cheers," he says and makes a toasting motion before taking a sip.

Matt takes the glass and imitates Mello's gesture. "Cheers," he repeats, taking a strange delight in the occasion.

He brings the glass to his mouth and takes a healthy sip. The liquor burns and he swallows quickly before coughing at the unexpected flavour and sensation. "Oh, wow," is all he manages as he coughs some more, tears springing forth from the burn. He removes his goggles and swipes at his face before putting them back on.

"That's...good," he says. Powerful. He's glad Mello only poured a little.

Smirking, Mello watches all this in some amusement before returning to his side of the room and sitting down at his desk. He chuckles when Matt says good. "Was that your first word choice?" he questions. He takes one more small sip and sets the glass down to get his things out. A little more homework then he'll relax on his bed with a book.

Mello thinks of something else he'd been wanting to ask. "What's with the goggles anyway? Odd fashion statement. Or are they some sort of glasses you need?" Opening his notebook he continues where he'd left off at dinner.

Matt pauses, then grins. "My first word choice was JFC, actually." He takes a second smaller sip, prepared this time, and only grimaces a little. "It's different."

He shakes his head at the glasses comment. "You know, if someone really wanted to, they could hack into your webcam and find out who you are without it even being turned on," he says. "Doing what I do, I guess it started to hide my face, but now I just think they're kinda cool." He grins. "It kind of works with this whole secret identity thing, don't you think? Though my name sucks." He shrugs. "But I guess yours isn't so great either."

Mello's pen stops moving for a second then he snorts and shrugs. "I don't really care. I'm here to be the next L. After that my name won't matter. Or even if I'm not 'L' exactly it'll be shortened to 'M' probably. Besides I don't know why you're complaining. I would think Matt is an improvement over 'Mail'."

Mello says his real name a little carefully. It's the first time he's been able to find the real name of another student. He realizes something that gives him real pause at that point. Undoubtedly people would trace things back to Matt. It hadn't taken Mello any time at all or much skill to uncover that information. If Matt went back into the technological underworld and Mello became L...would they face off one day? That's an odd thought to him somehow.

Matt freezes, completely shocked. He sets the drink down. "How did you find out?" He asks, suddenly feeling vulnerable. He never used his real name anywhere online, and it hadn't been published in the papers when he was arrested. Did Mello have access to police records or something?

Matt stares at the other boy, trying to regain control of the situation. "And it's pronounced "Mile," not "Male."" He tries to keep himself casual, but he's suddenly very nervous.

"It was on the website I read," Mello replies with a shrug. "I think it was one of those journalists that just refuses to be silenced. He did the research into police records to find your name when the crime was committed. Then when he noticed it was being hushed up, he wrote the article and put some decent protection on the website. On such a large scale thing as that it's bound to happen. Too many people know for it to be hushed up."

He takes another sip of the vodka. "Sorry. Didn't mean to freak you out. And I took down the website after I read it," he adds.

The thought of some rookie journalist going through his criminal record made Matt shudder. He didn't want his real name on the net; it wouldn't be hard for his hacker friends online to trace it back to d1g1t. He'd have to make sure to never admit to the crime under his handle now. So much for bragging rights.

But this was an unexpected kindness from Mello. "Thanks," he says, and he means it. He'd definitely misjudged this kid. Who knows, maybe they'd even be real-life friends one day. He hadn't had those in a long time.

"Hey so what's YOUR real name?" Matt asks with a mischievous tone. "Let's make it even." He could always hack the school files later but that would take work, and he was beginning to develop a strange floating sensation.

Mello notices the slight flush in Matt's face and raises an eyebrow. "I might tell you one day," he says with a slight smirk. "But it certainly won't be the day we met." He closes his notebook with a snap, finishes the little bit of the vodka that's left in his glass and flops down on his bed with his book.

After a moment he eyes the glass Matt still has. "Not sure if you should drink much more. You don't look like you're..." He falls silent, realizing that if he suggests Matt can't handle it well it'll probably just make things worse. So he trails off and opens his book instead.

Matt sighs loudly and tilts his head back to the ceiling. "You're such a pain," he complains, not really minding at all. He didn't think the other would tell him anyways.

He glares at Mello's implication. He downs the remaining vodka in one gulp before sliding the glass across the floor back to Mello. "Thanks for the drink," he says in a challenging tone.

Of course he had made it worse. Keep your mouth closed, Mello, he rebukes himself. Mello picks up the glass, opens the window and rinses both glasses using a water bottle before stowing them and the vodka back under his bed.

Matt supposes he ought to play the good student for a little and do at least some of the assigned homework. He flops down on his stomach and puts his headphones on, blaring music as he cracks open the algebra on his bed. Even in this tipsy state it's not much challenge. He doesn't go for that 'showing your work' shit, so he just scribbles down the answer to each, trying to finish as quickly as possible.

He takes a look at the forensics and, growing bored, scribbles down a half-assed answer before pushing the materials off his bed to the floor, letting them clatter. He rolls to his back and goes back to Mortal Kombat.

Mello looks over at the homework Matt had let fall. Whatever. If he gets behind it's not his problem. He's certainly not going to lecture him. He lies back down and reads for an hour. Outside there's some raised voices. Some of the boys are by the fire pit in the garden. Despite the ban on speaking of it, alcohol is pretty common among the students, especially the older ones.

Mello ignores the noise, glancing at the time. Almost. He's pushing things with this meeting, with curfew and all. At ten o'clock, half an hour before lights out, he gets to his feet and puts on his shoes. He walks over and waves a hand between Matt and his screen to get his attention for sure. "I'm going out. When the bell rings turn off the lights or you'll get in trouble." And if a prefect comes in to rebuke Matt they'll notice Mello isn't in the room.

Matt's wrapped up in the game when he notices a sudden hand in his face. He doesn't hear what Mello tells him with the music but doesn't much care; he's not hungry or anything. He shrugs in reply and waits for Mello to leave before he does anything.

He waits a full minute then pauses his game, drawing his two laptops to him. He has to work fast; good thing he'd plotted all out earlier. He sets to cracking the school's security system, typing with lightning speed and with the skill of a professional hacker decades beyond his time. It takes him a bit, but he succeeds. Once he's in, he blocks the two laptops off the school's signal so their activities can't be traced. He leaves the desktop for now; it might look suspicious if they couldn't connect any computers to him. And he's not sure how much time he has, so he pulls out without leaving a trace, putting the two laptops away and going back to his game before his roommate returns.

The meeting is quick, thankfully. The college student from the town doesn't make a fuss over Mello asking another student to be watched. It costs him more but he's willing to pay. To keep it from being traced the students only got a cash allowance so he had to pay in person, but the young man had demanded payment in advance. "We're not doing this again," Mello tells him irritably. They're in the garden, hidden in an alcove. "We'll meet in town like we used to."

When that's wrapped up and the man slips away he considers his options. He could wait and try the challenge of sneaking in after lights out...but he decides against it. It had been a long day and the martial arts classes are the next day.

He goes back to the room and without a word to Matt, flops down and goes back to his book. Five minutes later the bell rings and he gets up and turns off the lights.

Matt sees Mello return about two minutes after he put away the laptops; good thing he hadn't pushed it. A short while later, Mello turns out the lights, but he's used to the dark, and it's certainly never stopped him.

His headphones are still on, so there's no sound as he plays. He yawns; he's dead-tired from jetlag and all the turmoil, but he's not ready to sleep yet. He's found a really good opponent, and he was having a good time.

The bell rings at 8 am the next morning. Breakfast is at 8:15 and the first class at 9:00. Three classes that day: track, swimming, and martial arts.

Mello rises with the bell though he doesn't look happy about it. He disappears into their shared bathroom for a few minutes then comes out, dressed but looking a little more awake. He sits down and puts his laptop in the bag to take to breakfast. He doesn't look at Matt. He's not a morning person.

Matt hadn't gone to bed until well into the night, and even when he did, he had slept fitfully, his body not used to the time difference. But he's fast asleep when the bell rings, and doesn't wake up. Even Mello's walking about doesn't stir him. Matt always slept with the blankets completely over his head, so even the light didn't affect him. One bare foot sticks out from underneath the sheets.

Mello notices but at 8:15 goes out to eat. Some students chose to skip breakfast or just come in and grab something at the last minute. Breakfast is even more informal than the other meals. The food is set on the table and students take as much as they want. Fruit, toast or muffins, and some sort of meat. Today it's sausage. After he eats Mello makes a sandwich out of a piece of toast and some sausage and goes back to the room. It's 8:45 now.

He jerks the blankets off Matt. "Wake up. Class in fifteen minutes." He opens the curtains over Matt's window and walks off, leaving the food on his bedside table. "Feel like a fucking mom," he grumbles.

Matt startles when Mello comes in and wakes him so promptly. It takes him a minute to gather his surroundings, blinking at the harshness of the light, before he remembers where he is. He groans and covers his face with his arm, reaching for his goggles. "But it's so early," he complains, putting the goggles over his eyes and making the morning light more manageable.

After a few more minutes of lying there grumpily, he rolls himself off the bed and trudges to the bathroom. He brushes his teeth and throws on some clothes, already rumpled from their new home on the floor of his closet. His hair is sticking in every direction, so he puts on a loose-fitting fabric hat, not caring enough to try and fix it.

He's not really hungry, but tries to eat anyways. What he could really go for is coffee and a cigarette - oh my God, a cigarette - but neither seemed to be on hand. "It's too early," he complains again, wondering if he could try and skip out on the first class.

"If you had come to breakfast you could've had coffee," Mello replies. He's changed into looser clothes for the PE class. "Just be glad I brought you back some breakfast. Last semester a new student collapsed during track who'd skipped it."

He takes off the cross he always wears and puts it on his desk. He doesn't like it bouncing against his chest during track and the chlorine in the pool isn't good for it. Which reminds him. He grabs his swim trunks out of the closet and stuffs them in his bag.

Great, so Matt had missed the opportunity for coffee and - wait, what?! "Track?! You're not serious," he says incredulously. He thought this was a smart kid school, not some jockstrap academy.

Matt reaches for the bag of Cheetos from last night and grabs a handful, munching on them. He watches Mello get ready - swim trunks too? He blinks in disbelief, a new fear creeping into him. "Why are you bringing swim shorts to track?" He asks, suddenly rigid.

"PE today," Mello tells him. "Track, swimming and martial arts." He sits down on his bed and puts on some socks and tennis shoes. "Or tennis," he adds. "We're expected to stay in shape and learn self defense."

He notices how tense Matt is. "What's wrong? It's no big deal. We're not expected to be athletes."

The entire day?! Matt suppresses a groan and throws himself backwards on the bed. "Ugh, this is the worst," he declares, drawing the blanket back over himself. "I'm not going," he declares. "I don't do that jock stuff."

Matt frowns at the other boy, not wanting to admit his real fear. "All that stuff is stupid," he says dismissively, pulling out his console and retreating under the covers.

"What happened to that threat you made yesterday? Going 'Konami' on my ass?" Mello retorts. "It's not jock stuff; it's real-world, since we're being taught to be detectives. Some detective any of us would make if a suspect can knock us on our asses." He shrugs, picks up his bag and goes to the door. "Whatever. A teacher will come drag you to class just like yesterday."

"That's different," Matt explains. "Konami Code makes you near invincible but I haven't figured out how to activate it IRL yet. But when I do, watch out." He tunes the rest of what Mello says out. "Konami Code is wicked. Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, select, start. Why don't they teach that?" He has no intention of going anywhere.

Ten minutes into track Matt shows up once again being dragged by a teacher. He doesn't argue this time, he just looks incredibly pissed. He pockets his console for now.

By then Mello is a quarter of the way down the track so he doesn't see Matt get there. Looking amused, the teacher nods to the track. "Get jogging," he tells Matt. "If you get winded you can slow to a walk. There's water at the far end. You're not allowed to stop for more than ten minutes though." He crosses his arms and waits, watching the boys that are already out jogging.

He frowns at the teacher's positive attitude, then does what he's told - but just barely. He swears under his breath in the teacher's direction, jogging at an extremely slow speed. While he jogs - if it can be called that - he thinks of creative things to do to the teachers here who surely had it out for him. Maybe pull a Reptile: pour acid down their throats then rip out their hearts. The thought makes him laugh out loud. He thinks of all the better ways he could be spending his time - and trips. He releases a slew of profanities as he regains his balance, his fists bunched up in his pockets in frustration.

A knot of boys pass him, casting curious looks over the words he's muttering. They accept it though. Most new students find the PE day takes some getting used to. Mello is taking a break on the far end. He glances over as Matt comes up but doesn't say anything.

Matt notices the others passing him, but he honestly doesn't care. He's just going through the motions until he has permission to stop. That doesn't halt his grumbling though, and when the instructor isn't looking, he flips him off.

He notices Mello and uses this as an excuse to stop jogging when he gets to where he is. Even from his slow pace he feels out of breath, though he tries to hide it; he was not an athlete, never had been, never would be. "The worst," is all he says to the other boy.

Mello smirks. "You'll get used to it." He takes out a piece of chocolate and stuffs the wrapper in the cup he's holding before throwing both away. "We can walk," he tells Matt. "At least a little ways. Though the coach will yell if you get out your game, I'm sure." Putting his hands in his pockets he starts walking down the track.

"Like hell I will," Matt huffs, crossing his arms. "The coach is a total dickwad." He joins Mello, walking and grumbling beside him, kicking stones as they pass them.

"What's so great about being outside anyways?" He complains. "It's just a bunch of rocks and birds, and it's too bright. You can't even see your screens properly with the glare."

Mello ignores all the grumbling, his mind wandering to the forensic problem he'd stopped on the night before. A puzzling case there. While he walks he goes through the details, analyzing it and trying to think of different angles that might be possible.

When the coach shouts at them he speeds up into a jog for a while. At the end of an hour they're allowed a thirty minute break before they have to be at the pool. Mello finds a bench in the shade of a tree and sits down, getting out his notebook and writing down a few theories in answer to the question.

Matt continues kicking stones and pouting for the remaining of the time. When the coach yells at them he makes an ugly face and picks up his pace, though only minimally, allowing Mello to pass him by rather quickly.

When they're finally allowed a break he's exhausted. He collapses under the tree near Mello's bench, lying on the ground and shielding his eyes from the sun. "I think they're trying to kill me," he declares sorrowfully.

He lies there for a few minutes, when he remembers there's other activities for the day too, and that this isn't the end. This is so not fair, he thinks bitterly to himself. He glances over at Mello from his position on the ground. "So what's next?"

Mello snorts and doesn't dignify this claim with a reply, finishing up the problem and putting his notebook away again. "Next is swimming, to cool down," he tells Matt. "Then lunch, then martial arts and we're done for the day." He taps his knee thoughtfully, looking over the gardens.

Matt freezes again at the mention of the dreaded sport: swimming. Well, at least he knew what was coming next, though it was with a dread that hit the pit of his stomach.

"Hm. I'm not feeling so well, maybe I'll skip swimming and come back for martial arts," he suggests, wondering what a guy had to do to pull off an illness around here. Maybe he could make himself puke.

Mello glances at Matt and away again. "You could choose tennis over track or swimming, if you want," he tells him. He makes a face. "Swimming is so much cooler than tennis though. We're not allowed to shower until after martial arts so the pool is a nice break between track and fighting."

Matt perks up at this new option. "Really?... Just a sec." And he darts over to the teacher, faster than he'd moved the entire lesson. After a few moments of talking to him and some uncomfortable explaining, Matt returns, feeling considerably lighter.

He plunks down in the grass again, smiling victoriously. "Looks like I'll be doing tennis instead of swimming. Too bad." He doesn't sound disappointed at all, though.

The blonde shrugs. "Whatever you'd prefer." He glances down and decides the grass looks more comfortable than the bench so he moves down beside Matt. "Sit downwind of me at lunch though. I'll smell of chlorine but it's better than sweat." He lies back and stares at the sky, glad for a chance to relax.

Matt smirks at the blonde, feeling thoroughly self-satisfied, and whips out his game. In the shade of the tree, the glare isn't so bad. "I'll smell like victory, and you like a drowned rat," he says. Physical education sucked, but at least he wasn't going to drown today. Like he'd ever openly admit to Mello that he couldn't swim. It was hard enough on his pride just admitting it to the instructor.

Mello snorts and rolls his eyes. "Like I said. Whatever." He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. But his mind is still going and he soon opens his eyes again and gets out his notebook, too restless to just lie there.

He finishes his forensics homework then gets up. "The bell's going to ring in a few minutes. I need to go change into my swim trunks. The tennis courts are on the far side of the pool." He picks up his bag and walks off down the path.

Matt isn't in any particular rush to get to tennis; he'd rather stay under the tree, destroying this particularly tough boss. So he waves Mello off and stays exactly where he is. He hears the bell, then notices the others walking by. None of them seem to be smoking; damn.

A few minutes later, he supposes he ought to make an appearance; if he doesn't show up they might force him to take swim class, and then he'd really be screwed. So he shows up for tennis just a few minutes late.

It's already mid-semester, so all of the other students have more experience than Matt. He doesn't even know the rules of the game besides 'hit the ball'; it has to be explained. And even when he does know the rules, he's pitifully bad. It's not his fault he's hardly done a day of physical activity in his life. His world was behind screens, not in the sweaty, bright, uncomfortable outdoors.

He's worried if he's really bad they'll kick him out though, so he does actually put in some effort. That doesn't prevent him from missing the ball half the time when he's serving it himself, though, let alone hitting it when it comes back to him. By the end of the class he's sweaty, red-faced and utterly embarrassed, sure that none of the other students will want to play tennis with him again.

The teachers, being the conferring creatures that they are, had watched Matt during this and after the class the swim coach approaches him. "You know," he comments, meeting Matt's goggles, "if you want private swimming lessons we can arrange that. There's an indoor pool that's closed right now. I could send you in there with one of the life guards during this period."

He pauses and tilts his head. "It's only once a week," he adds. "And none of the other students would be told."

Matt's surprised that the swim coach would go out of his way to speak with him; he flushes at the suggestion. Just the thought of being near a pool terrified him; but at the same time, tennis was bad today. Really bad.

He rubs the back of his head, unsure of what to do. "Ah...Er..." The privacy might be nice, but how humiliating would it be if he had to be rescued by a teacher or life guard? He stares at the ground, fidgeting. It was either this or tennis. He had to make a decision.

"Uh...Okay...I guess," he trails off, almost immediately regretting his words, but not knowing how to take them back. "Thanks," he blurts out before taking off, away from the situation, back towards the main building.

Mello is already in the dining hall when Matt arrives. He's sitting at a different table than the day before; one right by the window, his chair closest to the open air. True to his word, he's sitting upwind from everyone else. He hates lunch time on Tuesdays. Winters are even worse. The lunch is burgers and fries today. Not as healthy as what they're usually served but the cooks are willing to let it slide on a day when they're getting so much exercise.

He glances up from his laptop when Matt sits down. "Do you smell like victory?" He asks, moving a towel away from his hair. It's almost dry now.

Matt is totally run ragged from the morning, and he's still a bit sweaty by the time he gets to the lunch room. He's not used to this feeling; achy, wet and overall gross. This is the most physical activity he's done in a long time. He does perk up minutely, however, over their lunch. Burgers; score. Too bad they won't let him take two.

He gets an ugly look on his face from Mello's comment. "I smell and feel like something that crawled out of a gutter and died," he says grumpily. "I can't take much more of this." He takes a big bite of the burger; he's famished. He smells the air. "You smell like you fell into a tub of bleach," he comments with his mouth full.

"You look like something that crawled out of a gutter and died," Mello agrees with a slight smirk. "And close enough. They have to keep the pool heavily chlorinated with so many people going in it all the time."

Mello's playing a card game on his laptop and he falls silent, focusing on it since it's his turn. He scribbles in his notebook for a few seconds, biting his lip, making his move and hitting send.

Matt snorts at the slight; he probably did, after all. He continues shovelling down his lunch with fervour and takes out his console. He's looking at Mello, though. He looks thoroughly absorbed in something, and he doesn't think it's school work.

His curiosity is peaked, so he shoves the remaining hamburger in his mouth and crawls up on the lunch table, crouching across and leaning over Mello's screen with his head upside-down. "Whatcha doin'?"

If Matt had done this during any meal on any other day it would've caused a problem. But with it being PE day and pretty nice outside a good portion of the students have taken their lunches and gone to eat elsewhere. There's a few boys on the other side of the table but they simply glance at Matt and return their attention to their own laptops.

"Blackjack," Mello replies distractedly. He's counting what cards have been played and what's left in the deck. He watches as it goes around the other plays and counts their numbers. Then it's back to him. Fifteen. "Not close enough," he mutters. All the other players are closer. But if he gets higher than a six card... He calculates the chances of that quickly. He has more money than he should riding on this game and it's making him a little tense.

Matt is oblivious to the do's and dont's of Wammy's, nor would he care much even if he did know. He remains in the same position, watching the game for a moment. Blackjack wasn't an overly complicated card game, if you knew the odds. He hadn't been watching prior, but that still doesn't stop him from putting his two cents in.

"Hit," he says, before crawling back to his side of the table, resuming his game. He sticks his pen in his mouth and chews it furiously; it would have to do for now. He hits the controls of his console with increasing force.

Mello glances at him, his mind still going quickly through the odds. He takes a deep breath and gets out a piece of chocolate to de-stress a bit.

Then he takes Matt's advice. A six card appears on the screen and all the tension drains out of his body. The dealer takes his turn as do the other players but Mello doesn't pay attention beyond the dealer. He turns to his food; swimming always made him ravenous. When it comes around he puts the cards down and cashes in. He gets off the site, feeling satisfied with time well spent and finishes eating his food while reading his book.

The end of lunch bell rings a short while later and Mello puts everything away, getting to his feet. He glances at Matt. "C'mon. You get to go take your frustrations out on something other than the buttons now."

Matt's not surprised when he notices Mello relax; must have taken his advice. He continues chewing on the pen and working the buttons until the end of the period, and by then he's nearly chewed through the pen. It's a wonder the ink cartridge hasn't exploded in his mouth.

He rises from the lunch table with some stiffness, his legs aching. He keeps his focus on the game as he follows Mello to the final frontier. He was grumpy from physical exertion, grumpy from withdrawal, grumpy from tiredness and grumpy from the fact that he hadn't even touched his computers yet today. "Once this is over with I'm done," he says determinedly. Like hell anyone would make him do more beyond that. He'll lock himself inside their room if necessary, not coming out until he was well and ready to.

Mello says nothing to this since it's true enough. Last class of the day and then they'll be done, until next week anyway. Once in the gym they split off into groups. Matt is placed with the new students but after putting the others to work, sparring with each other or practicing things they needed to improve on, the teacher instructs Matt personally, showing him basic kicks and punches and then small tricks to incapacitate an attacker.

Mello spends the class sparring with others so by the time the bell rings again, he's truly ready for a shower. He wipes his forehead and heads for the door with the other students. He's in a good mood now. Besides the money he'd won at lunch, martial arts was one of his favorite classes. It helped him vent the week's frustrations. The fact that it's the reason he was able to punch a hole through the closet door is an unfortunate side effect. He gets back to the room first and claims the bathroom to shower.

Matt does the best he can, but after the morning, he's already beat. His attempts at following the lesson are half-hearted at best, and all he can do is count down the minutes until it's over. By that time his legs are jelly, and it's all he can manage to trudge back to their dorm without falling over.

He sits on his bed, staring at the wall. He wants to shower, but it seems Mello was quicker than him; no surprise there. He wants to sleep, but his brain is too wired for that from the day. He wants to get his laptop, but that requires moving. So he just sits there quietly, staring at the paused screen of his console. He lets himself fall over sideways on his bed and lies there quietly.

Upon coming out of the shower Mello looks down at the figure on the other side of the room. No computer. Not even the game. He'd quickly come to expect these things from the other boy.

"Are you dead?" He asks. He doesn't sound concerned. "If you're dead I'm keeping your stuff." He flops down on his bed and opens his book.

Matt stares at the wall as he lies there, hardly noticing when Mello comes out from the bathroom. He glances up at him briefly when he talks to him, but doesn't move otherwise.

"I've taken a critical hit and don't think I can recover enough HP to pull through," he says faintly, grasping his console. "And like you know how to use half my stuff. If you touch any of it I'll come back as a ghost and kill you."

Matt pries himself off the bed and stumbles to the bathroom, where he cranks the water as hot as it will go. Once he's convinced he's burned the top layer of his skin off, and all the sweat with it, he throws on some pajamas even though it's not even dinner yet, and lies back down on his bed. The shower has made him feel slightly better, and also sleepier. He pulls over his laptops and lazily scrolls through his message boards, finally taking a look at that private email from a client he had noticed yesterday.

"Uh huh," Mello replies absently, managing to convey skepticism at the comment. He reads the whole time Matt is in the shower. He'd thought about getting up and going through the other's stuff but in the end he hadn't bothered. He knows he won't find anything worth it. And any of the computers would take more time to get into then he has, he's sure. Besides he already knows his name. That might've been an accident but he's observed enough to realize that, skills aside, this boy is no rival for him. The homework Matt had pushed onto the floor the night before is still there and is enough testament to that.

Matt settles into the cushions on his bed, scanning the email he's received. A smile plays on his lips. Perfect; an easy unwinder to a shitty day. He types a quick message, then gets to work.


	4. The Great Exploding Cereal Incident

Thank you very kindly for the positive reviews! They are much appreciated *-* And now without further ado, on to Chapter 4! As always, R&amp;R please! ^-^

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Chapter 4: The Great Exploding Cereal Incident

Matt settles into the cushions on his bed, scanning the email he's received. A smile plays on his lips. Perfect.

It's not a big job; he had already known about it from the year before. He glances at Mello; he shouldn't be too much of a problem. It wasn't THAT illegal. Not on the level of Times Square anyways; it was just a little switch. It shouldn't take long at all, so he gets to work, putting on his headphones.

It takes him 0.6 seconds to find the website, about 30 seconds to trace it to the main server. Everything was electronic these days; that was what was so fun about hacking. And this was just a little public school infiltration, a little crack.

A friend of a friend, and so forth, of his client, 's daughter had nearly failed two courses in the tenth grade, and her father was worried about her prospects for college. He had wanted a 'quick fix' to the situation, but Matt had advised they wait a year. Within the first, a change was likely to be caught, especially by the teachers who had given the grades, but beyond the year, no one would take a second look.

Matt hums a little to himself; it was the perfect task for the moment. Easy peasy. It doesn't take him long to get into the files. His two smaller laptops are enough for this job. He scrolls through the girl's grades, and suppresses a laugh. All low B's and C's, several high D's; this kid had more to worry about than a few near-fails, Matt thinks. But he finds the offending grades, two D-'s in... English and Politics? Hah. He adjusts the system, raising the grades to a high B, low A - have to be reasonable now - and raises everything else a grade up for good measure. She was now an average student, from a terrible one.

Task completed, Matt erases his trace and sends a final message to his client. He instructs him to have the girl in question ask for a copy of her transcript in a couple day's time. Once they've received proof of the change, they'll send payment . Feeling rather satisfied, he closes the laptop screen and leans back, stretching his sore muscles.

Mello had noticed how distracted Matt was with his computers. It's not so different from the afternoon before though so he doesn't really care. He sits up and with a red pen writes a few lines on the wall in an odd looking script. The lines are crammed between two papers so he has to write small.

When Mello's done he looks at it for a moment then sighs and lies down on his belly and starts scribbling in his notebook, working on the English homework that's due the following morning. He'll do the algebra homework after dinner.

When Matt closes his laptop Mello glances over. "Pulling through after all? Darn. I really wanted some of those video games." He continues writing while he speaks. It's not like the English homework requires his full attention.

Matt doesn't have the full workload yet, and hasn't been to English, so his homework consists of what was assigned Monday. He's already done the parts of it that he was somewhat interested in, and can't be bothered with the rest.

He's doing research on the city of Winchester when Mello distracts him. "I told you, I'm done for today," he responds. He's comfortable in his pajamas and has no intention of leaving the room for anything. He finds the local university and scrolls through some off-site message boards. If he can find someone who needs a favour, maybe they could put him in touch with a few smokes. A trade-off of services would probably be best in this situation.

"Maybe I'll let you play with me, one day, if you prove yourself worthy," he mumbles, caught up in the boards.

"Screw you," Mello grumbles and closes his notebook. He lies still for a moment, debating whether he wants to go back to his novel or go on that gambling website. After a few moments he pulls his laptop over. He needs to earn more money before he meets the college student who will withdraw it for him that weekend.

A little while later the dinner bell rings. Mello finishes the hand he's on then swings to his feet. "Skipping dinner?" He asks, eyeing the pajamas.

Having successfully put out a few threads, Matt feels better about the day as a whole. Hopefully someone will bite and the weekend will be a quick trade-off of services. He can taste his success already. It tastes like smoke.

He nods in response to Mello's question. "I'm not really hungry." While this wasn't exactly true, he could use the time to himself. And he's got enough junk food to keep himself satisfied.

Matt waits for Mello to leave, then goes over to his desktop; he'll need more power for this. He grabs the Cheetos and cracks his knuckles; time to get to work.

Mello shrugs and goes out. Dinner is quiet and uneventful. Already finished with all but a few algebra problems, Mello reads his novel during the meal. He takes his time eating and it's nearly an hour before he goes back to the room.

When Mello returns he puts the book back in his bookshelf and writes another line below the one he'd written earlier, also in the red ink. He seems bored. Normally he'd have gotten on his computer and played some games but he's not in the mood. As tired as he is from the day, he feels restless and twitchy. He opens the window on his side to let in some fresh air and for something to do. Maybe he should go for a walk or something. He gets out a chocolate bar and bites off a chunk then just lies and stares at the wall, reading the words on it.

Matt has to exit his screens quickly when Mello returns, swearing under his breath. He hadn't made even close to the progress he'd have liked. He'd passed the school's first security barrier, but there was another level around the student files themselves, which he hadn't anticipated. He'd need a good many consecutive hours to crack it, and getting that much time to himself seems unlikely. He glances at Mello and wonders how deep a sleeper he is.

Seeing as he's not going to get any more work done today, Matt chucks the empty bag of Cheetos to the floor and turns around on his bed, lying on his back with his head at the foot of the bed, tilted up to see the screen.

He looks at Mello and sighs in annoyance, extending a controller to him. It won't reach to the other side of the room. "Wanna play?" He asks as he sets up the game.

"Thought I wasn't worthy," Mello replies acidly. But after a moment he rolls off his bed and onto his feet. He crosses the room and takes the controller from Matt.

He rolls the desk chair from Matt's desk to beside the bed and sits down on it. "What're we playing?" He's not super knowledgeable about games but he knows the big ones. He has a few on his laptop for spare evenings like these.

Matt adjusts himself on the bed, pulling his handheld out from under his back and tossing it on his pillow. "Call of Duty 4," he says, finishing with the settings. "You don't look like you do this a lot, so we're on the same team. Wouldn't be much of a challenge to kill you."

Mello rolls his eyes but keeps hold of his irritation. He has a competitive nature obviously, but he knows in this matter it has to be tempered by a reason at least a little. He knows he's nowhere near as good as this boy who's obsessed with games.

He gets more comfortable in the computer chair and watches the screen, the controller held steadily in his hands.

Matt gives Mello a quick overview of the controls; the way he's holding the controller makes it look as though he doesn't know how to use it. "See that guy?" He points to the screen, displaying a video clip. "We gotta rescue him, then blow up the building where the terrorists have him."

They start the mission, Matt going through the motions with an expert's ease. He's played every type of mission thoroughly, and hits enemies with near 100% accuracy. But he moves slower than usual to give Mello a chance to catch up. "Dude on your right," he says, indicating an enemy hiding behind some cargo.

"I see it," Mello mutters, his attention focused on the game. He brings his character around, perhaps a little slowly but still manages to shoot the assailant when the other raises his head over the cargo.

As soon as he's sure the enemy is dead he hurries after Matt, keeping his gun ready. He does move a little slower but he's just trying to look around and make sure there are no other enemies lurking behind things.

Matt's impressed that Mello hasn't yet died, though he does move very slowly. He seems overly thorough. They enter the main building and are immediately assaulted by twenty-some men. Matt dives behind some boxes. "Ambush," he says. His character hasn't yet taken any hits; he's beat levels with full HP before. He throws a grenade then picks the rest off one by one.

Mello's character takes a few hits in the arm as he tries to get out of the way. "Shit," he grumbles, watching his HP fall.

Then he's behind cover too and creeps to the side so he can aim. By that time Matt's picked off the majority of the enemies but he gets a few kills in too. "How much farther to the hostage?" He asks, his eyes glued to the screen.

Matt notices Mello's health level; not sure he'll make it, he lets them sit behind the boxes for a few extra seconds to regain HP. "A ways," he says; they've barely started the mission.

As they progress Matt calls out certain things he knows are lurking, and things that are useful, saving Mello's ass more than once.

They finally get to the hostage, releasing him before setting an impressive number of explosives. "We gotta get out fast," he tells Mello, and they barely make it out before the bombs go off in an impressively-rendered simulation of a huge explosion, sending the building to ruins.

Mello whistles at the graphics. He has to ask something though. "So if we killed all the men inside...and saved the hostage...why was it necessary to blow up the building?"

Matt grins at the explosions; COD4 had some pretty good ones, even for a game this age. "Because explosions are awesome, duh," he responds as though it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Boom!" He mimics an explosion with his hands.

Mello chuckles at Mello's explanation and shrugs over the rest of it. It's true enough. "I can see how things like that can get addicting." He leans back on his hands, letting the controller rest on his lap. He glances at the time. "I can't believe how long that took," he says in shock.

He laughs at Mello's surprise. "That was only one mission. We hardly did anything at all, and it took way longer with you, friggin' slow poke." He jabs Mello in the shoulder with his controller. "You weren't completely terrible though, at least not for a total n00b."

Despite these words Mello gets to his feet and sets the controller down by Matt. He should start on those algebra problems. He can get them done before lights out still.

Matt yanks out Mello's controller and switches to online mode. He finds the highest-ranked person available and challenges them. Within moments he's deep in a new mission, eyes focused on the screen. He's still on his back, looking at the screen from the odd angle; he finds it more of a challenge when gravity is flipped. If only he had a cigarette, he'd be fully content at this moment.

Mello glances over while he works, interested despite himself. It does look fun. He doesn't ask to play again though. Playing had calmed his restlessness.

When he finishes his homework he gets on his laptop, back to the gaming website. He's looking forward to the payday he'll have that Saturday.

Matt plays the game and when the bell rings for lights out, he keeps right on going. He sticks his pen back in his mouth; chewing it helps with the cravings he's been having. He wins his third mission in a row, sighing loudly though he's grinning.

"It's so boring when no one ever beats you," he complains in a bragging tone. He rolls over to his stomach and quits the game. He switches over to his desktop, deciding to do a thorough search of his real name, just in case something else has come up. It's probably too late if there is something, but it's better to better erase the damage now than not at all.

"Right. Well I hope you meet your match and get killed then," Mello says with grim humor. Matt laughs at this; fat chance. He hasn't been killed in this game in forever.

When the bell rings Mello gets up and turns off the room lights. He yawns and stretches out on his bed. "Hey Matt..." he says sleepily. "What's America like? Or...well...New York," he corrects himself. "After I graduate I think I'm going to the States."

Matt doesn't react when Mello turns out the lights; fine by him. He works better in the dark; there's no distractions to keep his concentration from breaking.

Except for the other person in the room, that is. "Uhh..." he thinks for a moment. "New York is like... the best and worst of everything, all combined into one. The city is big, really big, so it's easy to get around unnoticed. There's a lot of really classy rich-people places, but then there's also really bad areas too, where there's a lot of crime." He shrugs. "It's big enough that it's different things for different people, I guess. I like it. People there have a reputation for being assholes, though." He laughs at this, wondering if he fit right in with that latter part.

Mello is silent for so long it's conceivable he might have fallen asleep. But his eyes still glimmer in the otherwise complete darkness of his side of the room, reflecting the light from Matt's computer.

"Well I'd fit in there then," Mello comments, sounding amused. Then he rolls over to face the wall and soon his breath deepens and he's asleep.

Matt smirks at this. "Probably. But you'd better watch the clothing. Some seedy photographer might try to recruit you or something pervy like that."

Matt stays up a little bit later, completing his superficial search. Nothing so far; this much was good. But he'd have to do a much deeper, thorough probe later. Look for stuff that wouldn't show up in a search engine.

He turns off his computer and crawls under the blankets, clutching his Legend of Zelda pillow. He passes out within seconds, but like the previous night, his body isn't fully adjusted to the time change, so at 4 AM he wakes up, wide eyed. His body aches, his stomach is grumbling and all he can think of is how badly he needs a cigarette. So he throws on his hoodie over his pajamas, and decides to wander around the school, see if he can find anything interesting.

Not a deep sleeper, Mello jerks awake when he hears the door close. He sits up and looks around. He debates for a moment then gets up, puts on some shoes and follows Matt. He hadn't worked on his shadowing skills in a long while but he can move quite silently already.

The teachers tend to take turns along with the prefects in patrolling at night. But at 4 AM they're no trouble to avoid. Still Mello keeps an ear out. He doesn't know how long he'll follow Matt, but he can go back at anytime. Mostly he's just curious.

Matt pads around barefoot down the hallways, not making much sound. He's not sure if there's anyone around at this time, but it's best to be careful. He wanders around without much direction in mind, and ends up a door marked 'Computer Lab.' So this is where it was.

He inspects the door handle; it's a basic lock-and-key system. He's not familiar with the British designs, but with a bit of research, he's sure he could pick it. He does notice a red light near the top of the door; it looked to be a motion or touch sensor, so he makes sure to not put his fingers on it or get too close.

He continues on his way, his stomach grumbling again. Guess the Cheetos hadn't been much of a meal. There's a shadow in the hallway, and he slips around a corner until it passes; guess there were people keeping watch at this point. Once the shadow's gone he continues on his way, eventually finding the kitchen. His ears pick up a slight shuffle; was he being followed? He grins to himself, wondering who it might be.

The kitchen area is locked, but there's a separate door that looks like it leads into a possible pantry. He glances around before pushing the door open. Inside there's mostly dry goods, stuff you can't eat without cooking, and canned items, but after a bit of rummaging he comes out with a box of sweet cereal. Triumphant, and since no one else is around, he sits cross-legged on the ground and tucks into the cereal, waiting to see if his stalker will show.

Mello twice almost gives up following Matt as a fruitless endeavor in favour of returning to his bed and getting more sleep. The first time he stays when Matt comes across the computer lab. No surprises there. He watches as Matt studies the security on it. And what would he do if he broke in there? He already has more technological power than any other student at the school.

When Matt moves on Mello does too. He's growing weary again now and is about to give up once more when Matt opens a door and goes down some stairs. Mello had stopped paying attention to their surroundings and it takes him a moment to get his bearings and figure out where in the school they are. The pantry. Really? He creeps to the doorway and hears a munching sound down below. Now he's really disappointed. He debates for a long moment whether to just to go back or not. But then he shrugs and goes down the steps.

"Don't tell me you came out to get a snack," he tells Matt and leans against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest.

Matt stops with a fistful of the cereal halfway to his mouth, looking up. So he had been followed, and he's not surprised at all by who it was. He grins at Mello. "I was waiting for you," he says, bearing a shit-eating grin. "I was hungry. Want some? It's chocolate-flavoured." He holds the box out to the blonde.

"Yeah, yeah, of course you were. Skipped out on dinner after all." Mello plops down across from Matt, an exasperated look on his face. The consternation only grows when Matt offers him some. But he'd said the right thing about the flavor. He can't resist. Why not? He's here anyway. He takes the box and takes a handful before passing it back. "Lucky that everyone who patrols just wants to go back to bed at this time of night," he informs the other wryly and eats the cereal.

Matt grins as Mello takes a handful. He'd already done a number on the cereal; the box was half-empty. He laughs lightly at Mello's warning. "I'm pretty good at slipping under the radar," he says nonchalantly, not really concerned about any sort of patrol.

He holds a chocolate pebble up to the light. "I wonder if these things burn," he wonders vaguely. He looks around at all the dry food stacked in here. "Oh! Or what would they do if everything in here suddenly went missing? Wait! Let's go outside and try to burn these things. I got a lighter back in the room somewhere." Perhaps he'd had a bit too much of the sugary cereal.

Mello just stares at him. "What would they do..?" He asks, raising an eyebrow. "Nothing. The entire school would have to go hungry until they could replace it all. One meal missed. Maybe two. You'd have the entire student body hunting furiously for the culprits to commit mob justice."

Mello looks around. "There's a fire pit in the garden that the students are allowed to use after dinner. If you really want to burn things we could use that tomorrow without causing a school riot."

Matt shrugs. "We could just move it to the head's office or something," he says. "A fire pit," he scoffs. "Are you always so safe and practical?" He gets up, brushes crumbs off his pants and goes back to the shelves. "I saw something earlier," he murmurs, rummaging around at the back of the shelves. Finally he emerges, holding a small plastic bottle of lighter fluid. He grins. "Let's torch them, and not tomorrow. C'mon."

"I don't want to be expelled," Mello replies stubbornly. He gets to his feet and grabs the lighter fluid from Matt. No wonder they'd put Matt in his room. This boy needs a babysitter.

Then again... "If you really need to burn something just take a few things. And we're not doing it on the school grounds where the smoke will be noticed."

Matt rolls his eyes. "You're going to get expelled for having a little fun? Forgot how much school sucks." He makes a grab for the bottle.

"If it involves fire and explosions, yes!" Mello shoots back in exasperation, holding the bottle up over his head.

"I was gonna just take a few things!" Matt complains. "That, the cereal, a lighter, scissors and duct tape." He grins mischievously. "Then let's get off school grounds, huh?"

"Why duct tape?" Mello asks curiously. "...You'll need some shoes. The garden is pretty big so it'll be a bit of a walk to get off the grounds."

Matt grins evilly. "You'll see," he taunts the other boy, before poking him hard in the stomach, grabbing the box of cereal and taking off. He slips through the hallways quietly, back to their dorm room to grab the few things he needs, along with a pair of shoes. He waits for the other boy to catch up outside their room.

Mello watches him dash off and he sighs. He follows at a more careful pace, making sure there's no teachers patrolling. It's close enough to morning now that they've all gone back to their beds. Nobody minds if the students get up early. They're trusted to be smart, obviously.

"This is insane," he informs Matt in a clipped tone when he gets to the doorway of their room.

"It's not insane; you're just boring," Matt chides the other boy, grabbing his sleeve and pulling him off towards the exit. "You're taking forever."

Once they're out Matt looks around, deciding which way to go. It's a chilly early morning, though the sun still hasn't risen, and he's glad for his hoodie. He sees some trees in the distances and walks off decisively towards them.

Mello frowns in annoyance. "Oh yeah?" He growls. He jerks his sleeve away and starts jogging. Pretty soon they're past the cultivated part of the grounds and in the little grove of trees at the edge.

Mello looks at the trees and keeps walking. "Let's get past these. The trees will hide the smoke from the school windows."

Matt nods, though not long after he becomes annoyed with the distance. They come to a little clearing in the trees, and he sets the box down firmly in its center. "This is far enough," he says decisively, shooting a glance at Mello. Without another word, he gets to work.

He takes the lighter fluid from Mello, and covers the cereal in a healthy amount of it. He then shakes the bottle with the lid open, letting it slosh down the sides and coat the outside. Then he plants the bottle firmly in the cereal upright, leaving the lid half off. The plastic bottle is still nearly half full.

Next, the lighter. He gets out the duct tape and cuts a couple of small pieces. He then shakes the lighter and flicks it on, duct-taping the little levers in place so it won't turn off. He turns to Mello, putting his hoodie over his head and affixing his goggles firmly in place.

"Stand back," he instructs, holding the flaming lighter over the box. "And when I say 'fire in the hole', duck and look away."

It's obvious to Mello that this thing is going to go off like a firecracker as he watches Matt set it up. He bites his lip, wishing the other had let them go a little farther.

But he's excited too. "Wait." He grabs Matt's sleeve and yanks his hand away from the box. Looking around he grabs a handful of dry leaves and twigs. "The box was almost empty of cereal," he points out. "Let's give it a little more tinder to burn." He dumps these in around the bottle of lighter fluid and gets a second handful. He takes a few steps back, putting up the hood on his own jacket.

Matt grins, excited that Mello's getting into it now too instead of just giving him a hard time. The tinder should give them half a second extra to get away. "Okay, ready?" He moves the lighter back over the box. Mello nods and backs away, his eyes intent on that lighter hovering over the combustible material.

"Fire in the hole!" Matt yells, and he drops the lighter. He takes two huge steps away then leaps forward with his back to the box, shielding his face. Mello whirls and leaps away, his hands coming up toward his face and covering his ears.

As Matt leaps the flames hit the bottle, causing it to explode with a 'Bang!' then a 'Fwoom!' as the entire box bursts into flames, leaping several feet high. Matt feels an intense heat on his back as he lands on the ground, then turns his head around to see their work.

The flames are shooting out of the box a good four or five feet into the air; what's left of the box, that is. It's already a crumpled mess, and the remains of charred cereal falls from above them to the ground.

Mello still hears the bang and feels the rush of heat and he's glad he had put up his hood. The smell of burning plastic pervades the air as he turns back to watch the box burn. Then he looks up and notices the smoldering ashes falling. He wipes them off his sweater. "You're insane," he repeats but he's smiling.

Matt looks back at the fire and cackles with delight. "Insanely awesome!" He corrects, reaching out a hand to high-five Mello.

"That was so wicked," he declares, approaching the flames. The smoke coming off the fire reeks of plastic and lighter fluid, and it's already making him lightheaded. Too bad.

Amused by the correction and the high five Mello laughs. "It was," he agrees. He sits up and watches the box burn until there's only ashes and debris. Then he gets to his feet. "We'll both have to rinse off before class or someone will notice the smell." Boring and practical? Maybe. But it's the little details that will keep them from being caught. "And we'll have to get you a new lighter," he adds, poking through the wreckage with his boot and noticing the burned lighter beside the scorched bottle that the lighter fluid had been in. He kicks at the fire, spreading the ashes around.

Matt nods in agreement; lighter fluid wasn't exactly the greatest smell in the world, and his hands reeked of it too. "That lighter was really old anyways," he says, shrugging. "I'll get a new one this weekend. Along with some other stuff..." He wonders if the sound of the explosion was heard from the school; it had been fairly loud.

A shout from the school grounds makes Mello look up. "We better clear off quick." He pushes his hood down. "Let's sneak around to the back, by the pool and go in that way since people will be heading here from the front."


	5. Levelling the Field

Sorry for the long wait, people who are enjoying this story! ^-^ We've actually written so far beyond this that I barely remember the stuff from these first few chapters. That means that there's a _lot_ of material, and a lot of fun stuff headed your way! So please continue to enjoy!

~ Miss Ray and Broflovskifan

Chapter 5: Levelling the Field

A shout from the school grounds makes Mello look up. "But we better clear off quick." He pushes his hood down. "Let's sneak around to the back, by the pool and go in that way since people will be heading this way from the front."

He sets off at a brisk trot. In video games he might be slow but here Mello's decisive and moves quickly.

Matt grins and follows Mello's lead. He doesn't really want to go anywhere near the pool but the sneakiest way is probably best; it's not as though he has to go _in_ it. When they pass by Matt can't help but look nervously at the water, though he tries not to. He stays far back from the edge.

Leading the way inside, Mello doesn't notice Matt avoiding the water. They're lucky and everyone that the sound roused is in the front of the building and grounds. No one sees them and they get back to their room without incident.

Mello huffs and flops down on his desk chair. "I still say you're insane," he reasserts. But after a moment he snickers. "But that was great." Despite how early he'd woken up he's wired and not at all tired. After a shower he might try to rest some before the eight o'clock bell for breakfast. It's not even six yet.

Matt breathes an exhilarated sigh of relief when they return, sliding down against the door to the floor. "Let's face it; we rock," he replies, his hands making devil horns. Mello chuckles and goes to take a quick rinse.

He gets up and flops over on his bed, pulling over a laptop. He checks his prior work. Seems he found a match: some older brother looking to get a fake ID for his younger. 'Families; how sweet,' he thinks dryly. He didn't make them himself, but he knew people who did. He'd serve as the middleman and get his due, get the ID shipped over to the town post office and deliver it in person. Cigarettes, here he comes.

When Mello comes out he stops dead in the doorway to the bathroom and stares at Matt. "What're you doing?!" He says in exasperation.

It takes him seconds to cross the room and yank Matt off his bed. "You're going to make your blankets smell! They'll notice when they wash it this weekend!"

Matt barely has time to exit the screen and turn off the laptop before Mello yanks him clear off the bed, nearly taking the laptop with him. He lands on the floor with a loud thump. He groans and kicks out at Mello's leg.

"You're so paranoid," he complains, unwilling to admit the other boy may have a point. He stalks off into the bathroom, showers quickly then returns. "Happy?" He asks.

By this time Mello is on his bed with a novel. He'd gotten out one of his favorite books and opened it to a part he enjoys reading. Anything to help calm him so maybe he can sleep for an hour or so.

"Sure," he quips at Matt without looking away from the book in his hands. His eyes move as he reads along the line. "Next time we should do something more complicated than lighter fluid. There's a few methods we've covered in chemistry I'd like to try out. Some of them require things we could easily get. A few others it would take a little more effort but..." He shrugs. "You'll enjoy the chemistry class. The teacher used to be a bomb technician or something, I think."

Matt's face quickly changes from annoyed to excited at this unexpected prospect. "Next time, huh?" He smirks. "I like where this is going." His eyes light up at the prospect of having a bomb technician for a teacher. Maybe this school wasn't the worst thing in the world after all.

Matt goes back to his bed and continues his probe for his own name from the prior day. He doesn't discover anything except an old trace to a site that had been taken down, probably the one that Mello had found. It doesn't take much to scramble the trace and make it indistinguishable.

He glances over at Mello. If he had woken up when he left the room, that meant he was a light sleeper. Which was bad news for his plans... If he wanted any chance of hacking the school's system and uncovering Mello's true name, he'd need a long stretch of time, and overnight seemed to be the only way to do it.

Mello sighs heavily and slams the book down on the table, turning onto his side and staring moodily across the room. "If I fall asleep in class or at a meal today I'm going to smack you," he grumbles.

He covers a yawn and closes his eyes. Maybe he'll have to bring breakfast or lunch back to the room so he could relax while eating. He'd already done the homework for Thursday and Friday. He opens one eye though and catches Matt's glance. "What?" He demands. Wow this kid is shifty. They'd make good partn- wait...what?! He reproves himself quickly. Everyone here is a rival, even if they work together. He closes his eyes again with a huff.

Matt smirks at this. "Not my fault you're a stalker," he says wryly. "You must like me a whole lot, huh?" That should get a rise out of him. He still hadn't had a good night's sleep, but he had slept, which was better than the night before. Between that and the promise of no Phys. Ed., he was feeling better as a whole.

When Mello catches his glance he grins and shrugs. Damn hawk eyes. "I'm going back to sleep," Matt declares to no one in particular, and with that he rolls over and throws his blanket over his head, curling up into a ball under the covers. He doubts he'll be able to sleep but it's the thought that counts, right?

"When they assigned me to show you around it included making sure you knew the rules and limitations and all that shit. If you get caught in the first week it will reflect badly on me," Mello grumbles.

Matt snorts from underneath the sheets. "It must suck, taking yourself so seriously all the time," he taunts.

Mello doesn't open his eyes and silence falls between them. Soon after he does doze off and sleeps until the bell rings a little less than two hours later. The bell wakes him up but since he's already dressed he doesn't jump or anything. He sighs and picks up his book.

And slowly gets to his feet. "Well today is the same. You're..." He pauses, realizing Matt had only gone to the dining hall a couple of times. "Still learning the layout of the school?" Though he should know everywhere they're going today.

Matt stays under the blankets dozing until the bell rings, and then he stays under for ten minutes more. "Yeah yeah," he interrupts Mello, throwing the blankets off of him to the floor. He rummages around and pulls out his creased books, dumping them haphazardly into his school bag. He then spends several minutes rummaging for his handheld, which he finally finds under his bed; it must have fallen off from behind the pillow.

Not wanting to miss coffee today, he breezes out of the room, smacking Mello's back as he goes. "Hurry up, or do you not want breakfast?" He calls over his shoulder, smirking.

"Not really," Mello snaps irritably and walks faster to take the lead. He smacks the back of Matt's head as he passes. "Ow," Matt complains, though he laughs, finding Mello's irritation amusing.

This morning breakfast is bacon and eggs and biscuits. Mello gets some hot chocolate and picks at his food. There's more talk this morning among the students than there had been the last few days. The boys are talking about the burned wreckage that had been found in the nearby forest. This doesn't improve Mello's mood. He doesn't need bragging rights. Not like he could tell anyone else anyway. Next time they _will_ go farther from the school. He scowls and stabs a piece of scrambled egg. As awesome as it had been he finds himself analyzing it now and the amount of sloppiness makes him angry. Not doing it like that again.

Matt helps himself to a first, then second coffee at breakfast, eating with great enthusiasm. It seemed their experiment had caused a bit of a skirmish, and he smiles to himself as he plays his game quietly. Between the explosion and the caffeine, he was in a pretty good mood. The only thing that would make it better is - nope, not thinking about those.

He kicks Mello under the table, noticing his frown. "Lighten up, blondie," he whispers to him. Matt wasn't too concerned with getting caught, but Mello was, and with that expression he was the only one looking guilty in the room.

Mello shakes his head and sighs. "Don't worry. Nobody will think twice about me looking angry." The admission does make him wince a bit and he sighs again, rubbing his eyes. He's glad for the sleep. Otherwise they'd be bloodshot from the smoke.

Matt can't help but frown at Mello's admission; so it wasn't just with him, huh. He chooses not to say anything as he reaches for a third cup of coffee. He sips it slowly this time as he plays his game, mindful of the chatter around him.

After that Mello does relax a little though and he eats more, writing away in his notebook. He'd begun research on someone he'd heard about. Another student who'd come from here besides L and who L had recently caught. Mello is intrigued by this BB and he'd started looking into the case.

The only person who doesn't seem to be participating in the discussions is that pajama kid, who is calmly assembling a deck of cards into a pyramid beside his food, seemingly in his own world. Matt kicks Mello again. "Hey, what's up with that guy?" He asks casually, jerking his head in the boy's direction.

Mello jerks when Matt kicks him again, nearly spilling his hot chocolate. "Would you..." He mutters but looks in that direction and his eyes narrow.

"That's Near," he mutters. He looks at what he's writing and slams it closed. He should be studying. How is he going to bear Near if he starts slacking off? He needs to study. All seriousness has returned. "He's...one of the best at the school," he mutters.

Matt is surprised by the hostile expression suddenly on the other boy's face. "Is that why you don't like him...?" He asks, going off a hunch. It's strange to see someone's demeanor change so rapidly. Must be some bad blood or something. He doesn't see how though; the 'Near' kid looks as though he keeps to himself.

He seems to be quite good with those cards though. They're stacked improbably high on the unsteady surface, and Matt whistles a bit. The kid seems to pick up on something by a slight change in his shoulders but doesn't look up, nor do his hands falter. "So how does a group of geniuses get graded anyways?" Matt asks, now curious.

"We're ranked," Mello tells him a little tersely. "In each class." In many ways this isn't the best system for creating motivation. The majority of the students know they'll never be high enough in the ranking to even be considered for L's successor and they work only to be transferred to other schools.

It also creates rivalry between Near and Mello, who are always in the top rankings in each class. More often than not Near's ranking is higher than Mello's. One fist clenches on the table and he gets up. "I'm going back to the room. I have to grab my bag before class. I'll meet you in the classroom," he mutters.

"Hm," Matt says in response, not looking up from his game. He's curious how he stacks up against the other Wammy's kids, though not so curious as to actually try much. Games were far more interesting.

Matt's eyes wander over to the Near boy, whose pyramid is getting progressively taller, then back to his game, to which he devotes his full attention to until the bell rings. When he hears it, he finishes his level before wandering over in the direction of the classrooms.

Mello paces the room for a few minutes, a notebook in his hand as he goes over the English material. There's a test coming up and he's determined to be ranked number one in that class this semester.

He keeps an eye on the clock and when it's almost time for the class he grabs his bag and walks to it, getting there a little early as the first bell rings as their 8:45 warning. He takes a desk and sits there, studying more. Other students file in but he ignores them. When he sees Matt he nods a little tersely to him and goes back to studying. It's hard to believe it's only been three days. He's quite used to Matt now.

Matt makes his way over casually, showing up on time for the first morning yet. He nods back, caught up in his game. He plunks down at a desk and continues it, stopping only when the class begins.

The chemistry lecture entails the properties of various chemicals used in assembling small-range bombs. It starts interesting, but there's a lot of talking and even this subject matter doesn't hold Matt's attention. He does take notes on which chemicals react together; it could come in handy one day should he need to create a diversion. He still hadn't decided whether to stay at the school.

He sighs and glanced at Mello, who is listening attentively and with great enthusiasm, from the looks of it. How did he not get bored? School in his opinion was overrated, even this one. Most things he'd ever found useful to himself he'd come across through other means.

Mello does enjoy this class. And the teacher is one of his favorites, so he listens attentively and takes notes. This isn't one they can try without making an effort to gather the components. Earlier classes had covered less powerful ones that can be made with simple, common ingredients. Ones he can buy that weekend after he gets the money.

After the double period class Mello grabs some lunch and goes back to the bedroom, getting out his laptop and logging onto the gaming website. He has the afternoon to get more money. Fridays are always busy with double period computer class in the morning then an organized competition in the afternoon.

After class Mello seems occupied, which suits Matt just fine; he enjoyed time to himself and he hadn't had much since coming here. So he plays his game alone at the table, formulating plans in his head. Yesterday he had gotten in touch with his contact for fake IDs. The information had been exchanged and it would be shipped express to the downtown Winchester post for pickup under one of Matt's false names; he had a couple fake IDs of his own. He'd buy his own cigarettes if his smallness didn't give him away. It was all coming together quite nicely.

It was better if Mello tired himself out with studying today; if all went well, he'd attempt to hack the school's security system tonight. So long as his desktop was turned to the wall and brightness turned down to reduce the light, Mello shouldn't stir. He was anxious to crack something properly again; he hadn't since coming to Wammy's.

Mello plays for nearly two hours, racking up a lot more money. Pleased with this and growing restless with anticipation he takes his homework out into the garden. It's a nice day and he can't stay still inside any longer.

He stays out there for some time, finishing a big portion of the following week's homework. Shortly before dinner he comes back inside and flops down on his bed. He glances over at Matt. His expression is closed off. He doesn't look irritated, more wary. "Your ranking has gone up on the school website every day," he informs the brunette.

It made sense. His first week. His ranking would be decided as he turned in school work. But it's Thursday now, his fourth day and he's in the top 15. By the second week when he's had homework in each class it would keep going up. He feels anger stirring inside him at the all too familiar feeling. Would Matt surpass him too? The unfairness makes him furious.

Matt had been arranging the final payment to his contact - quality wasn't cheap - on his laptop when Mello speaks. He finishes off the trade and closes the laptop. He then lies back and kicks the chemistry homework off the foot of his bed before going back to his handheld.

"Sounds about right," he murmurs disinterestedly, his eyes on the game. And it did; he'd never had to try much in school and had only done the work that interested him. Which was perhaps why he had stopped going.

He notices Mello's anger and wonders if it's directed towards him. 'This guy...' he thinks to himself. He really needed to learn how to take it down a few notches. But his obvious competitiveness makes him wonder. "So what are you ranked anyways?" He asks. He hasn't taken a look at the ranks himself.

Aware that his emotion must show in his face Mello turns and faces the wall. The words there are more comforting than the stupid pictures and paintings on the ceiling.

"Two," he mutters, taking a pen and scribbling out a few words in the foreign language. "I'm ranked as number two overall."

Matt laughs openly at this. "What, so you're pissy because you're second best?" It was strange to him that someone would be unhappy with the fact that they were ranked #2 at a school for geniuses. Maybe he was used to being #1 at a regular school, the kind for idiots?

The thought gives him an idea, and he puts down his handheld. "So that Near kid...that must be why you hate him so much! He's number 1, right?" He drops his handheld, noticing Mello's scribbling and walks over to the other boy's bed, seating himself comfortably on it. "And what's all this?" He traces his finger over some of the foreign letters, unintentionally smudging it. He didn't recognize the language, and it made him curious.

Mello scowls and scribbles harder, grinding the tip of the pen into the wall. "Second best doesn't cut it. If I'm going to be L's successor I have to be the best. Otherwise I'm just the runner up that gets shipped off to another school after Near is chosen," he rants heatedly.

He watches Matt looking over the foreign letters and for a few moments his eyes still blaze with his frustration. Then he takes a deep, deep breath. "It's Russian. Every student is required to take a language class but we're each allowed to choose our own. That class is tomorrow after computers. You'll have to pick one."

"You want to be L2 that bad, huh?" Matt replies blandly. Besides the resources to do whatever the hell you want - he had heard the guy had diplomatic immunity - he didn't really see what was so great about it. He leans back from the wall and flops backwards at the bottom of the bed, his head leaning over the edge. His side of the room was starting to get pretty messy. He could do better though. He wishes he had brought his console over; it was so far away.

"Languages too? I already know binary, C, C++, .NET, HTML, Perl and LISP... do those count?" he inquires.

Mello grimaces. "It's the goal I was set by Wammy's house," he mutters. "And more than that I want to beat Near. I want to prove to everyone that I'm better than he is." He clenches his fists and pulls the pillow over the top half of his face.

"No those don't," he informs Matt dryly. "A foreign language. You should be happy about it. Because of that class we get to stay in the computer lab two periods."

Matt blinks at that, finding it odd to have someone else set your goals for you. He had always done that for himself: who cared what anyone else wanted? But wanting to beat someone, he understood that. "Must be like being second in the whole of WoW by three points," he says sympathetically. He didn't care about school, but he could understand wanting to be the best at something that was fun. Who knows, maybe school was - fun - for Mello. He makes a face at the thought.

"What, so C++ isn't a foreign language? Not everyone knows it you know. Stupid people and their rules that languages have to make sound," he grumbles, folding his arms. "Stupid Wammy's." He pushes off the bed and lets himself fall to the floor, laying on his back.

Mello snorts. He moves the pillow and looks down at Matt on the floor. "Yeah well..." He shrugs but can't keep the slight amusement out of his expression. "Just pick a language. It's not a big deal, dude."

He stretches his arms over his head, thinking. "Think of it this way. You can do more on foreign websites if you understand their language. There's a shit ton of languages to choose from. Wammy's house has a list of all..." he pauses and smirks. "All spoken languages."

Matt crosses his arms stubbornly and stares at Mello's ceiling pictures, which seem utterly ridiculous to him. He has to concede, Mello may actually have a point though. He hadn't thought of it like that.

"I guess Mandarin or Cantonese might be useful," he mutters, still frowning. China was a big enough market for people like him anyways.

Matt rolls over to his side of the room and rummages under his bed, pulling out a bag of gummy bears. He rips it open and takes a handful before chucking it to Mello. Several fall out of the bag to the floor in the process. "You're the only thing about this place that doesn't completely suck," he says, still lying on the floor while he stuffs his mouth.

Mello catches the bag out of the air, more of the gummies falling out of onto his bed. He eats a handful, gathering them off his cover.

"Not sure if that's a compliment, but thanks," he says. Despite his earlier dark mood he seems to be cheering up a little. He takes another handful and tosses it back to Matt, more falling out onto the floor. He looks down at them then away and gets out the chemistry homework for the following week. "Also tomorrow there's a war game in the afternoon," he tells Matt. "First class after lunch is marksmanship with different guns then second period we have a game where we practice with fake models and learn strategy and tactics. A lot of students go from here into military or police academies so it's useful."

Matt shrugs; he had meant it as more of a fact than a compliment. "I'd rather do a war game on a computer." He sighs. "I don't think I really belong here," he admits, thinking aloud. "If I decide to bail, you can come if you want. If you're second then you've gotta be pretty smart. Maybe I could set up in London again, for a while." It wasn't where he wanted to be, but he had to pick his battles at this point.

He stretches out a bear. "Have you ever set one of these things on fire? They melt super fast." Matt would show him if he still had his lighter. He lets his arm drop to his side on the floor.

Mello is shaking his head before Matt finishes speaking. "I've spent too long working towards this goal to just give up," he mutters. "And I don't have a habit of setting things on fire." But he sounds curious. He looks down at them and gets up to look out the window. "There's nobody by the fire pit. Want to go burn some in that?" It's not as good as going out into the forest but that's not happening again for a while.

Matt hadn't really expected Mello to be interested, so he doesn't react when the other boy declines. Thinking about London makes him realize just how far he is from home. He had never been outside New York City his whole life. It makes him feel a little sick.

He rolls over to his stomach then gets up."I don't have a lighter anymore," he mumbles. Outside seems so far away right now. He lies down on his bed and puts on his headphones, picking up his handheld. He'll just bide time until Mello goes to sleep and he can begin his work.

"There's..." Mello starts to say but he glances away from the window and sees that the other boy isn't paying attention.

Sighing he grabs the bag of gummy bears and goes out. He burns them in the fire pit until other boys come by to use it. After dinner he does homework then goes to sleep. He's still not in a good mood.

Matt spends the rest of his evening playing his handheld game, trying to fight off the homesickness that had come over him intensely that night. Distractions were best for that sort of thing, he had decided. Once Mello goes to sleep, he waits a half hour to make sure he doesn't stir.

Then he quietly gets up and goes over to his desktop, turning the screen and connecting his two laptops. He moves slowly so as to be completely soundless. He keeps the screens dimmed almost imperceptibly low.

Once he begins his task, he devotes himself entirely to it, and the thrill of being back in action does wonders to lift his spirits. He uses a keypad muffler to dull the sound of his rapid typing in the small bedroom.

The security at this school is a puzzle, one that he's excited to solve. It was a good system, no doubt about it. But systems were made by people, and people were imperfect by nature. After two hours of searching and exploring, he finds a bug, tiny, almost imperceptible, and he exploits it. An hour and a half later, he's met with success. Finally.

It's the middle of the night as he looks through the student files, finding the one he's looking for and grinning triumphantly. They were even now.

For good measure, he goes through every student file, committing their names to his exceptionally good memory. He looks at his own, tweaking the information slightly to reflect his awesomeness better.

The urge to tamper with the system is strong. But Mello's loyalty to the school was intense, and he felt that he shouldn't get on the wrong side of that. Besides, he found he didn't want to betray Mello like that. This realization hits him with surprise. But he can't do _nothing_, so he switches Mello and Near's photos in their student files. He also studies the alarm and the school power systems, memorizing the routes and sources. It may come in handy later.

The night is very late, and the sky outside is taking on a purple hue. He looks over at the sleeping figure, then his laptop. He decides to have a bit of fun. Nothing malicious, but Mello would wonder, and if he narked that he'd been in the school's system, it wouldn't be good. But he was almost convinced he wouldn't be staying, so it didn't matter anyways.

He traces the wireless paths and signals to each individual computer on the system, eventually finding the one in the same room as him. Getting in is fairly easy; he plants his little prank into the laptop's start-up coding. The next time Mello turns on his computer, it should be pretty great.

The sky is a grey dawn now, and too wired to sleep, Matt covers himself in the blankets and goes back to his handheld.

Mello had slept more peacefully that night. He wakes up when the sun rises since he'd forgotten to close the curtains the night before, and the sun shining on his face rouses him long before the first morning bell. Looking sleepy and grumpy he disappears into the bathroom for a few minutes.

When he comes out he looks more awake but no less grumpy. "So glad it's Friday," he mutters and flops on his bed with a book. He reads for a few minutes then gets ready for breakfast. After that it's computer class.


	6. Say My Name

Thank you lovely reviewers for your support! Here's chapter 6 ^o^. If you like it, please R&amp;R! It motivates us. xx

Chapter 6: Say My Name

Matt's high is beginning to wear off by the time the sun's fully up. There was no point in going to sleep at this point, so he plays his game and waits for breakfast. When that hour finally comes, he practically runs to the dining area and downs more coffee than he probably should. Three cups later and he was wide awake and incredibly twitchy, with his mind going 100 miles an hour.

He wants to flaunt that he knows Mello's name now, but he forces himself to wait. There will be an opportunity, and a one-sided secret could be kind of fun, too. Every time he glances at Mello, he feels quite proud of himself.

And when Matt finally sees the computer lab, even he has to admit it's quite nice. Good computers, but again, no real upgrades or mods. They look to be recent models at least. Matt immediately picks out the one with the least visible screen in the classroom, plunks down, bypasses the username and password and starts installing Unix on it.

The teacher makes his way through the aisles. He notices Matt's swift progress and his mouth twitches but he doesn't say anything. So this is the criminal student. He doubts even he can teach this boy much. More than that he's not sure he wants to. If he's doing such huge pranks at this age he's wary of the boy will do when older if he doesn't reform.

Matt's just finished installing the new OS when he catches the instructor's glance. His face holds a mixed expression; he must have heard about Matt's antics. Well, didn't that make him feel special. He should have looked up the teachers last night; it would have been good to know what this guy's credentials are, if he knows anything worthwhile. For the moment he ignores him.

Matt glances over at what the other students are doing; looks like they're learning how to override privacy settings on third-party sites. You'd never learn that at public school, but Matt had self-taught himself that stuff years ago. He sighs; just what he expected. Even the computing class held nothing special for him.

Mello focuses on his computer and follows instructions, but he has the gaming website open in another tab and plays when the teacher isn't looking. After computers there's language. The computer teacher goes over to Matt. "I need to know your language choice," he tells him. "Also, I've been ordered to offer you a private computer tutoring class on Thursday afternoons."

Matt notices the teacher stop by and he looks away from the computer, expression betraying nothing. But when the instructor says he's been "ordered," he can't help but grin widely. So that's how it was; he didn't want to teach him, but had been asked to from someone on high. Matt could live with that; he really didn't care if the whole school hated him. So long as they knew of his infamy. "That'd be great," he says, uncharacteristically sweetly. "Mells told me about the language class, and I think I'd like to learn Mandarin." Ah, the most common language on the planet. That should come in handy with his computing skills.

The teacher raises an eyebrow over "Mells" and his eyes flick to the serious, angry boy in question. He seems like the last boy who'd ever allow a cute nickname to be made of himself in such a manner. But that's none of his business.

"Very well. It'll take me a few moments to get in contact with a tutor for you. Please wait. And I look forward to next Thursday." And in a way he means it. He's curious to see Matt's skills for himself when he doesn't have to focus on teaching a class.

Matt nods enthusiastically; it will be good to see just how much this 'teacher' knows. He salutes the instructor from his seat and when he walks away, Matt spends the rest of the class dedicated to finding out his name, which he fails in, and how to get into his computer's wireless, which he succeeds in. He changes the instructor's desktop image to a picture of a fat Pikachu, wondering when he will notice.

The instructor goes to his own computer and in a few minutes he comes back over and shows Matt the website they use to contact their tutors. All the others are already on with headphones working away. Matt's tutor, a young Chinese woman, begins a lesson immediately with the basics of Mandarin.

Matt's actually somewhat curious about Mandarin; the instructor isn't bad to look at either. She's young and pretty. She starts off slow, too slow, so he urges her to pick up the pace. He glances over at Mello; he seems quite advanced, judging by the speed at which he talks and his confidence. By the end of the lesson Matt has a good grasp on common phrases and basic vocabulary. But it's the writing that he's really interested in, that will prove useful.

Soon the class is over. Mello takes off his headphones and the computer teacher says something to him. He looks at the man sharply and the man smiles and says something else. Mello's face blanks and he picks up his backpack and walks to the door. He looks at Matt and raises an eyebrow. "Mells?"

Matt notices the instructor talking to Mello with some amusement, though his expression quickly sours when he notices the reaction on Mello's face. He wonders what they're talking about, though he's not entirely sure he wants to know. So he whips out his handheld and follows Mello out. "I thought of Smells, or Melon, but I think Mells sounds best," he says, as if that explains everything. "The teacher hates me." He laughs.

"Okay... So because of that, my name gets attacked?" Mello demands. He looks vaguely annoyed but not much else. He'd never met someone who'd even consider giving him a nickname so he's not sure how to react.

His steps lead to the dining hall and he seems a little excited. Mello enjoys the Friday afternoon gun class and war game. Even a simulation game is a lot more real than Matt's video games.

Matt blinks in confusion. "Attacked...?" He doesn't see how it was an attack, but Mello did take himself far too seriously. He grins. "You hate it that much, fine, I won't call you it. That stick up your ass must hurt somethin' awful though."

He follows behind casually, debating whether to ask Mello what the teacher said to him but he decides against it in the end. He wonders if there's a way to skip out on the afternoon; he's dead tired from his all-nighter now that the coffee is wearing off.

Mello flushes and clenches a fist. "I don't hate it," he grumbles, though the words seem to surprise even him. He pauses for a moment at the table and thinks it over. "I don't," he repeats. "I just don't understand the connection between that and the teacher not liking you."

That explained to his satisfaction, Mello sits down and gets a sandwich and some chips. He notices how tired Matt looks and wonders about it but doesn't ask. It doesn't matter.

This makes Matt snicker. "Always looking for a connection, huh?" He takes a big bite out of his sandwich while continuing with his handheld. "What was the teacher talking to you about anyways?" He asks with his mouth full. He doesn't expect Mello to answer, but he figures may as well go for it. He looks up from his game and glances around; looks like coffee was only a thing for breakfast, huh. Just his luck.

"By the way, the stuff you guys were doing was super basic. If you ever want to learn anything actually interesting, let me know," he says as he beheads the boss in his game with one hand.

Mello shrugs. "I've spent the last few years training to be a detective. It's become ingrained," he mutters and eats a handful of chips. He looks interested despite himself. "I'll probably take you up on that," Mello tells Matt. "I need to know as much as I can."

' If I'm going to beat Near,' he thinks. But he leaves that part unsaid. He focuses on his food after that then he gets out a book and reads until the bell rings. "Gun class," he says with a grin and gets up.

Matt snorts in amusement over Mello completely avoiding his question, and decides to drop it; he's too tired to push the point. But he grins at Mello's acceptance; he was already beginning to predict what his competitive spirit would say to certain influences.

Mello looks excited for the training exercise, but Matt can't work up the energy or motivation to do the same. Sure, guns were cool, but it's not like they'd be blowing any bad guys up or anything, so what was the point? His eyes are a bit bleary and he blinks then rubs them, trying to get them to focus. He'll show up but not do much, he decides.

"We'll do it after this weekend," Mello tells Matt over his shoulder. "And the teacher didn't say much. Just congratulated me on ranking high in the class...and called me Mells." Matt chuckles at this, wondering if he can get the nickname to catch on, and thinking about just how pissed Mello would be about it.

Mello leads Matt outside to an open area they use as a target range. A rack of guns is set up and ready for use. Mello moves forward and looks at them with the other students. Every week they got different models to practice with. Though they hadn't had a model Mello liked in some weeks. He preferred smaller guns he could conceal than these big rifles. They were more suited for war than for street combat.

Matt looks up from his game briefly to check out the guns, and he can't help but stare at them a little, trying not to drool. Okay, so they _were_ pretty cool in real life, he had to admit. If only they had targets to shoot at: like a watermelon, which would explode and gush its innards, he thinks with a grin. That'd be cool. One of them looks like the AK-47 he'd seen in _Call of Duty_. He reaches out and touches the shaft lightly, but doesn't pick it up.

Mello notices Matt's interest and smirks a bit. He picks up the gun Matt had touched, handling it carefully as they'd been taught and hands it to Matt before selecting another for himself.

The instructor is standing by the line where they'll shoot and watching the selections. "One for each a' ya, cupcakes," he barks. "Pick one and get up to the line." As students step up with the guns, the man goes down the line and shows them the specs of the gun they're holding. The other students listen to each instruction carefully as they'll be switching guns until each student has tried each model. The teacher stops at Matt. "New kid," he comments. "Ever held a gun before?"

Matt holds the gun like a cherished toy, staring at it like some foreign prize. He mimics the cool way the soldiers in his games hold them; around one arm, knees bent and feet slightly apart. He wishes he had an army helmet and jacket too.

He's imagining raid scenarios in his head when he's addressed by the teacher. He blinks out of it quickly, looking up at the intimidating man; this was getting progressively cooler. He stands at full attention and salutes the man like a proper soldier. "Sir yes sir!" he says in a similar barking manner. "In _Call of Duty_, _Assassin's Creed_, _Metal Gear Solid_, _Wolfenstein_, _Battlefield_, _Halo_, _Medal of Honor_ and many more, sir!"

The man raises both eyebrows at this list of video games but a smile flickers over his face. "Right. Well you'd best learn right quick that real guns aren't video games."

He shows Matt how to stand properly and hold the gun then finishes going down the line. On the far side of the line there's a table. "Okay, kiddos." He taps the table. "When I say go, you'll come over here, grab the correct ammo for your gun, load it, return to your current positions, take aim, and fire until your rounds are gone then put your guns in the rest position and wait. Video games, let's see what you can do." He'll watch the new boy closely. He waits a few moments to let the instructions sink in. "Go!" The boys leap forward, guns held in the safe position.

Matt grins at the teacher: challenge accepted. He glances down at his gun; it was larger than the ones he'd seen before. Most of the ones he'd seen in his own life were small ones, ones that would fit under someone's jacket, used for robbing convenience stores and threatening drug addicts. This was the real deal, but for some reason Matt found this heavy-duty one less terrifying than the others.

Mello had been practicing his stance while the teacher speaks, calculating how he should stand with this large gun to help with the kick-back.

When the teacher shouts though he's one of the first to the table. It only takes him a few moments to find the correct box of ammo and load a clip then he runs back to his position and cites the old fence they usually shoot at. Cans and bottles had been set out and around the fence as well as bigger targets like rags and gourds. After the first shot Mello pauses and adjusts his stance then continues shooting. His shoulder is bruised but he grits his teeth and keeps shooting. He hits four out of six. The first shot had buried itself in the ground, too low. The second shot just clipped the edge. The others hit a pumpkin.

When the teacher makes the call, Matt leaps forward with the other boys, this new challenge doing a lot to wake him up from his previous sluggish state. It takes him a bit longer than the others to sort out his ammo; it was his first time after all. When he returns to his position, he looks out for a target; he sees a tree to his center-right, and decides to take aim at it. He steadies his arms like the game soldiers, focuses on his target, and fires.

The force of the shot sends him flying backward several feet and he lands on his back, looking up at the sky. He knew about the force of these weapons, but he hadn't been expecting...that. He starts laughing as he gets up, his arm slightly numb. "That was so awesome," he mutters to himself. He gets up and tries it again, changing his foot stance to prepare better for the impact. He takes aim and...the force causes him to lose his balance this time, but not fall.

Again. Third shot he's steadier but misses the target. Fourth he's steady, getting the hang of it. Fifth he hits his target. Sixth he's dead on. Once the clip is emptied, he sits down with the gun in his lap, giggling insanely and covering his mouth.

Mello lowers his gun, muzzle to the ground and hears laughter. He looks around to see Matt on the ground laughing. The others are trading guns but Mello waits. He can see the teacher is approaching Matt.

The man looks down at Matt. "Slap-happy down there, video games?" He asks gruffly. He had done pretty well, he had to admit, for his first time. "On your feet and put your gun in rest position. You can sit out for the rest of the class if you need to."

Matt had been so focused on his own target he'd forgotten about the others until after his clip was empty. He looks at the others shooting, but he isn't really paying attention. He's too busy basking in the glow of shooting an arms until the teacher approaches him.

He jumps to his feet at the teacher's command and salutes him again over-enthusiastically. "Sir yes sir!" He says. "And I wouldn't dream of it, sir!" There's no way he's not going to shoot every gun he can get his hands on now. He's aware of the stupid grin on his face but can't seem to stop it. He sees Mello looking his way and gives him a double thumbs-up, then pretends to shoot him with his fingers.

The arms' instructor mouth twitches while Mello makes a face and looks away. "Alright then, video games," he tells Matt. "Get over and trade guns with blondie. And I better see some improvement. No getting knocked on your ass this time!"

Matt ignores Mello's reaction but snickers when the instructor calls him blondie. "Sir yes sir!" He yells yet again, hand to his forehead. 'This instructor is so cool,' he thinks. He wonders if he'd consider adopting him. He'd be the best dad ever. He quickly makes a face at the odd notion and shakes it out of his head as he goes to trade guns with Mello.

"Having fun?" Mello asks sarcastically when Matt joins him and they swap guns. He automatically reaches up and ejects the empty clip. He'd already pulled it out of the gun he'd used.

Matt bestows his gun unto Mello with an air of gravity. "With great power comes great responsibility," he whispers with a serious expression to the other boy. "And more fun than you, blondie." He breaks his serious expression and giggles a little before returning to position.

Mello frowns and smacks Matt's head before he gets into his stance, hefting the heavier gun into a good position and testing its weight now while he can.

The teacher puts more ammo on the table and returns to his position. "Ready?" He calls and waits a moment. "Go!"

Matt's new gun is a bit lighter; perhaps it wouldn't have as strong a kick. He resists the urge to spin it over his head like the CGI soldiers do sometimes, loads it, and takes aim at a gourd. The kick isn't as strong, but he still stumbles a bit, though the gourd explodes with a rather impressive splat. Matt snickers into his sleeve in delight.

"Man down!" He yells for no apparent reason. He takes aim at a glass bottle and shoots it, causing it to shatter. "I'm going in! Cover me." He shoots a can, which goes flying backwards. "Look out!" He shoots the tree again, then fires the remaining promptly into the same rag one after the other. "Argh! I'm hit!" He falls over to the ground.

The class is fun enough that nobody thinks Matt's shouts are odd. There's a bit of laughter and pausing. "Concentrate!" the instructor barks. The class goes silent but for the bangs of the guns.

When the rounds are used the man walks over to Matt. "I thought we agreed you wouldn't end up on the ground this time," he remarks dryly. "Switch guns," he calls to the class, turning his head.

Matt blinks up at the instructor, getting to his feet once again. "Apologies, sir!" He barks. "I was hit, but I think I'll pull through, sir!"

"Hmm..." The instructor replies, just trying not to laugh. After that it becomes more routine. The students concentrate and exchange guns quickly and it moves from one gun to the next seamlessly.

As the lesson continues, Matt's balance and precision improve until he's stable-footed and shooting nearly everything he aims at. He starts trying to shoot the targets in the exact same spot repeatedly, but it's hard when they keep exploding on him. He forgets about everyone else as he focuses; the same type of concentration he has when he plays video games or codes.

They're just finishing the last rounds when the bell rings. "Okay, kiddos," the instructor calls to them. "Guns in the rack. See ya next week. Video games, the guns are put in the inside shooting range if you want to do some target practice during the week. Chained up," he adds to make sure the new kid doesn't get any ideas.

Matt is actually a little sorry to see the class end and puts back the gun with some reluctance. He perks up, however, at the information the instructor offers him. He wonders if the instructor should have really given him that information (oh, he could do things with it), but then he shrugs and grins. "Thank you very much, sir!" He salutes the man one final time, resisting the urge to try and high-five him.

Mello is smirking at the far side of the range. "So that doesn't suck?" He asks.

Matt can't wipe the grin off his face, so he just goes with it. "Bam!" He jabs Mello in the side with a finger. "Friday is definitely the best day of the week," he concedes with a smile. "Tuesdays are the worst. Can't we have Friday every day?"

Mello snorts and pokes Matt right back. "Yeah, yeah. It'd get boring." Maybe not to everyone, but to some students for sure. Matt shrugs, skeptical of this. After all, he hadn't gotten bored of video games yet.

He walks towards the gutted structure where they have their war games. Today it's Capture the Flag. One flag is in the building, the other in the forest. They're separated onto teams and there's a rack of guns similar to the rack at the class they'd just come from. The racks hold mock guns of the models they'd just practiced with and many other models from earlier classes. Each student is allowed to choose one. Mello chooses a small hand gun, smirking as he considers a strategy. Teachers will be watching and call them out if they get "shot."

Matt follows Mello to the structure; it looks like an abandoned building from the outside, not unlike some of the buildings near where he had lived. They were good for hiding in when you needed to, but they were also good for drug dealers and gang violence.

Matt wasn't really up for running around - was he ever? - but in a place like this, with the right strategy, maybe he wouldn't have to. He looks at the guns and chooses one that resembles his first gun of the day closely. He holds it under one arm and mimes taking a drag from a cigarette then throwing it to the ground, stamping it out with his shoe. He blinks at Mello's choice; a small one, easy to conceal. He feels a twinge of nervousness down his spine and he looks it at with some wariness before averting his eyes back to his own.

"So are we on teams for this, or playing for ourselves?" He asks. "Cause if it's for ourselves, don't get mad at me when I shoot you."

Mello looks around. "It's capture for the flag, so there's two teams." He heads into the building as half the students break off to go into the forest and hide their flag.

Mello smirks and chooses a room of the abandoned building where he can watch the hallway near the entrance and pick the others off. "Don't worry. You'll probably get a chance to shoot me some other Friday," he comments while loading his gun with the empty clip. He pulls the trigger and it makes a bang.

Matt startles at the sound of the bang; it had sounded very real, more than he had thought it would. These were good models, and that little handgun was particularly spooky. He glances around at the building, half expecting to see someone with a knife hiding in a corner somewhere, but he suppresses the feeling, determined to forget it.

Matt pretends to look disappointed. "Damn, I really wanted to spray your guts too," he says in a woeful manner, though he smiles as he says it. "I'm gonna find my own spot," he tells the boy, anxious to get away from the gun and find a less creepy spot in the building. For the first time, he wishes they were outside instead.

He wanders until he finds a drop-down stair set leading to an attic. He pulls it down and clambers up, pulling it up behind him. He leaves just enough space to poke the barrel of his gun through should he need to. He still doesn't feel great about the building, but on his own, he feels he can handle it better. That little gun sounded too real.

Outside a horn goes off. There's silence for several minutes then gun shots can be heard in the forest and in the building.

After another few minutes a few boys creep into Matt's view, looking around carefully and with guns held at the ready. One hangs out back at the top of the hallway, covering his teammates. They notice the drawn ladder and move towards it, gun pointed up toward it. They hadn't found where the flag is yet and search each room as they go. One is speaking into a walkie-talkie, relaying the rooms they've searched to other members of the team.

The nervousness had been wearing off and Matt was actually starting to doze, the tiredness coming back again, when he notices the movement out of the corner of his eye. One of the boys wanders into the room in which Mello is hiding, glancing around the corners.

Matt steadies his gun just inches away from the slight opening he had left. When one of them moves into shooting range, he takes him out neatly with one loud shot. Then he jumps to his feet and waits for one of the others to pull the string down, revealing the attic. They'd have their guard down when they did it and he'd get the jump on them. Heart pounding in his chest, he steadies his breath and waits.

The boys jump at the shot and they turn a bit to look at the one who's been shot. The boy turns and walks out, grumbling, and they immediately turn back to their work of lowering the ladder.

In the far room there's a gun shot but the boy who had gone in there doesn't come out. After a moment Mello does, his hands up. "Dead," he tells some boys when they point their guns at him. They turn away as the ladder comes down. In a moment Mello has his small gun out from under his vest and shoots several of them from behind before he runs out of bullets. He drops to the floor, scrabbling to reload.

Matt can hear Mello's voice and smiles; looks like they had ambushed the other boys from both sides accidentally. Perfect. The trap door finally drops open and before any of them have time to react, Matt's fired the five remaining mock rounds into the three boys in his line of vision. He retreats backwards into the attic and sneaks underneath a fallen set of pillars, reloading as quietly as possible.

Mello takes a deep breath when the gun shots fire before any of the boys who are aiming at him can shoot. There's a deep, angry grumbling but they know the rules so as a group they file out.

One starts to reach for the walkie-talkie but Mello snatches it from him and turns it off. "Dead men tell no tales," he says with a smile that earns him a glare. The boy he'd shot in the other room comes out and walks away with the boys, rubbing his wrist where Mello had tied him with a light rope so he couldn't come out.

Mello hesitates then climbs into the attic, giving Matt a quick thumbs-up before disappearing back down. The other team won't have a report of these rooms being checked but will know from the silence of their squad that there are enemies here. Mello goes to the far side of the hall to pick off any who come down the hall the other way.

Matt can hear everything Mello says from the attic, and he snickers quietly at himself. Turns out his roommate was quite devious himself. When Mello leaves he closes himself back up into the attic; he's too tired to explore new areas for the time being.

He waits there quietly, picking off two more people who come by from the other team, presumably looking for their expired companions. The game is timed, and when he senses it nearly over, he sneaks off, looking for Mello.

By this time Mello has moved to the bottom floor and is watching their team running up with the other team's flag. He has his gun up and pointed out the window, picking off the pursuers. It's almost time, and Mello mutters under his breath, urging their teammates to go faster.

Matt sneaks around a bit, but the building seems mostly deserted at this point. He works his way down to the bottom floor as quietly as possible. He finally spots Mello near a window, and he sneaks around the corner, trying not to giggle though the mischievous grin on his face remains. He doesn't want to cause their team to lose though - it might cause some bad blood - so he lets Mello continue to pick off the pursuers. As the bell rings, he shoots Mello squarely in the back.

Mello stiffens at the bang and feels the blank hit him in the back. "What the he-" he growls and turns quickly, bringing his gun up even though the game is over. It's a draw since they didn't get the other flag all the way back to their side.

The only person behind him though is Matt and he frowns darkly. "What the hell, Matt?" He finishes his earlier sentence and puts his gun in his belt for now.

Matt laughs despite Mello's ominous expression. "I couldn't help it," he giggles. "I just...really wanted to shoot you." He spreads his arms out wide. "You can shoot me back if you like." He looks at Mello fearlessly. It was stupid to be fearful of small guns. If he got shot by one, he should get over it, right?

Mello sighs heavily and shakes his head though. "Whatever, dude. We're not allowed to shoot after the bell rings. And I don't care enough to be that angry." He pauses, watching the boys leave. In moments they're alone.

Mello darts forward and gets Matt in a headlock. "Let's see what else I can do though," he says thoughtfully, keeping the other boy in his hold with ease. Let's face it; he enjoys martial arts class and swimming on Tuesdays. He's stronger than the other.

Matt's a bit disappointed that Mello won't shoot him, and he lowers his arms. He doesn't have long to feel that way though; within seconds his neck is crammed unexpectedly under Mello's arm.

"Argh, you suck!" He yells out, trying not to laugh. "That's not fair..." He elbows Mello in the stomach, hard, then squirms out of his grasp, assuming a Mortal Kombat-esque fighting stance. Just because he's not as strong doesn't mean he's not resourceful.

Mello just laughs at the insult and even though Matt's elbow does hurt a little he's more amused than angry. He gets into a fighting stance himself, putting the wall at his back so Matt can't get behind him. "Well, video games?" he calls mockingly, using the gun instructor's nickname. He lowers his voice and adds, "C'mon Mail, show me what you've got."

Matt's trying his best not to break his serious facial expression, facing off against Mello like this, but it's really difficult. "My nickname's still way better than yours, blondie," he says. He changes his stance slightly, caught off-guard by the use of his real name. His breath catches a little in surprise, but then he grins. He could turn it back on him right now.

"I may have a few tricks up my sleeve you know, Mihael," he whispers before launching his full body into a running tackle.


	7. Coffee Shop Tricks

(Miss Ray here. I'm hijacking this fic and will be updating it now (hopefully regularly!) Sorry for the wait, both of us got really busy with life- oops. This is so old now but no worries there's lots more to come. My writing style is changing so I went back and tried to edit this into past tense. Enjoy~)

Chapter 7 Coffee Shop Tricks

Mello caught his breath when he heard that name. It hadn't been spoken to him in years. More than the taunt about the nickname his real name unbalanced him. His body moved instinctively from hours of practice at the school though. When Matt tackled him he twisted his feet to keep his balance and brought his arms up to take the brunt of Matt's oncoming weight. Next he tried to kick Matt's feet out from under him, shoving him sideways toward the wall at the same time. He grabbed a fistful of Matt's shirt with his left hand and twisted it up towards his neck. "How'd you find that out?" He demanded, any amusement at their play fight gone.

All Matt felt is disappointment that his reveal hadn't unbalanced Mello as much as he had hoped - he could have saved it for something better - until Mello grabbed him by the shirt and he noticed the look in the other boy's eyes. His eyes widen in obvious surprise; he hadn't expected this aggression. His shirt was twisted tightly, Mello's grasp partially obscured his view, and he felt a momentary twinge of panic.

But he'd been in similar situations before, and it didn't take long for his defensive wall to come up, changing his expression to absolute monotone. "I have my ways," he replied tersely, no longer friendly. With that he jabbed Mello hard in the sides with both hands at the same time then slid downwards to the floor, ripping the shirt out of Mello's grasp though it hurt his neck. He quickly scrambled up and put distance between them, wary of the other boy's movements.

The blonde took a few deep breaths, trying to still the shaking that had come on. He can't even tell if he's angry or freaked out. He turned away and sat down hard on a crate, fumbling in his bag for a piece of chocolate. "Great," he finally muttered, running a hand through his hair. "Just great." He closed his eyes and focused on the flavor until he really is starting to calm down. There was still a nervous sort of energy about him and his knee bounced. "Well, guess I'll head back to the school," he muttered.

Matt watched the other boy warily, his body tensed and ready to move if need be. When Mello sat down, he didn't feel calmer, even though he didn't feel Mello might try to kick the shit out of him anymore. He returned to a regular stance, though he doesn't move from the spot. This was why he didn't make friends, he scolded himself internally. It served him right for getting so chummy with another person.

But still... "I'm not gonna tell anyone," he muttered under his breath, kicking a stone. "It's just that, now we're even, you know?" He averted his eyes as he said this, an unhappy expression on his face.

Mello nodded curtly. "Guess that's fair enough," he muttered. He took another deep breath and that along with Matt's expression calms him.

"You just surprised me. That's all," he told Matt. His mind was still trying to figure out how Matt found out but the rest is thinking about their upcoming weekend and free afternoon and all. "Are you okay?" He asked, gesturing to where he'd hurt his neck to get away

Matt relaxed some when Mello conceded a bit, letting go of his tenseness. He pulled his handheld out from his pocket. "It's fine. Whatever," is all he said in response. His neck is a bit sore, but that wasn't an issue. It'd be gone soon enough. He kept his eyes trained on the game, not wanting to meet Mello's gaze right then.

"We should go," he murmured, and he picked up his model gun from where he'd dropped it. He tucked it under his arm and continued with his game.

Mello sighed and rubbed the back of his head, looking sour. "I'm not good at apologies," he grumbled. "And you ignored my last one." That said he doesn't bother to apologize. He went out the door to the gun rack and put away his gun then started for the school, his back rigid and tense and clearly unhappy.

"You have nothing to apologize for, so don't," Matt muttered, affixed to his game. It was probably his own fault, anyway; he knew Mello had an explosive temper, and he had provoked him. It didn't make him feel any better, but the tiredness was coming back again, not leaving much room for coherent thought.

He followed Mello back to the school then retreated to their room. He played his game for a while but soon found himself drifting off despite himself. Determined to finish the level, he continued to play but dozed off halfway through on his bed, the game still held loosely in his lap.

The silence that afternoon seems heavy to Mello. He focused on homework and got a lot done but his mood was black. For the first time in...a long time he felt truly guilty for letting his temper alienate someone.

He noticed when Matt falls asleep. After a few moments he got up and took the game from his hand. He saved it and turned the device off.

When its dinner he ate quickly and brought back a plate for Matt for when he woke up. He left this on the bedside table. The last time Matt had skipped dinner he'd blown something up. Then, excited for the next day, Mello went to bed early.

When Matt finally woke up, he was surprised to find it was dark out. He checked the time; it was well into the evening. He must have been asleep for 5 or 6 hours. Once he'd gotten his bearings he pried himself off the bed - his neck was a bit stiff from his awkward position - and reached for his game, which he must have paused or something before he fell asleep, though he doesn't remember doing that.

He glanced at the other side of the room; Mello looked to be asleep. Matt's stomach rumbled; it was long past the dinner hour though. But then he noticed the plate on his bedside table. His face held a mixed expression; why was this other boy, someone he barely knew, doing such nice things for him? He wasn't used to it; he'd been fending for himself for so long he'd forgotten that there were people like him at all. He took the plate; it was cold, but it was food, and he ate it with gratitude.

He looked at Mello's sleeping form as he ate; who was this guy exactly? One minute he was blowing up, the next he was...doing stuff like this. He felt guilty for throwing his real name in his face, even though Mello had done the same thing to him. Maybe it wasn't the same somehow. But looking at the now-empty plate, Matt felt as though he wanted to do something nice for him back, though he doesn't know what. All he really knew that Mello liked chocolate.

He played around on his laptops for a while, talked to some of his online friends on his message boards, but his mind was elsewhere. After a few hours he started to get tired again, and since it was now quite late, he rolled over and went to sleep. He'd figure it out in the morning.

They were allowed to sleep in during the weekends so the first bell doesn't go off until 9. Breakfast is at 9:30 then the bus into town leaves at 11.

Mello woke up a little before the bell and did some last minute games. He only won a few dollars to add to his tab but it put him in a better mood. He took a shower and by 9:30 he was ready to go. "So maybe we can do some target practice in the evenings next week," he remarked casually, leaning against the wall as the second morning bell announcing breakfast went off. He was testing the waters a little, seeing if Matt was still annoyed. He really hadn't had someone he could consider much of a friend before and he really did regret losing his temper.

Matt woke up earlier than usual due to his excessively long nap the previous day. He was wide awake by 8 AM, and finally having fought off the jet lag, felt much better. Plus he was excited; today was his day to finally get back in touch with some cigarettes. He doesn't want to admit it, but the withdrawal may have made him crankier than usual this past week. Once he's properly satisfied he'll be able to take a better look at his current situation.

He went online to check the delivery status; looked like his 'package' was delivered last night in the post. Perfect. He'd already set up a 1 PM meet time with his British 'client', where they'd do a quick trade-off and he'd be back in action.

Having it so close made it that much harder to wait, so he was fidgety this morning. He tried to distract himself with games in the meantime. He noticed Mello getting up but doesn't say anything, unsure of what kind of state the other boy was in. When Mello spoke to him, he perked up a bit.

"Ahm...Sure..." he said hesitantly. He paused a moment, then remembering, reached under his bed and pulled out a Crunch chocolate bar. He threw the peace offering over to Mello. "Er...thanks..." he continued, indicating the now-empty dinner plate and rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

Mello caught the chocolate easily and smirked when he saw what it was and chuckled a bit. "Thanks," he said dryly and means it.

He paused and looked away. "And I am sorry for snapping yesterday. It really isn't any different then what I did to you. You just caught me off guard big time and..." He shrugged. "I feel like it'd decrease my chances of being chosen as the next L if my name gets out."

He absently unwrapped the chocolate bar and met Matt's eyes. "But yeah we're even. You don't tell anyone my name and I won't tell anyone yours."

He pushed off from the wall and turned toward the door. "So want some coffee before we go into town?" He asked and opened the door. "Breakfast time, video games."

Matt solemnly drew a zipper line across his mouth. "Your secret identity's safe with me," he said, rolling off the bed and pulling himself into an upright position. He grabbed his console and stuffed it in his pocket. He walked up and punched Mello lightly in the back as he passed. "Coffee sounds awesome, Blondie," he replied with a smirk.

Matt felt considerably lighter as they head towards the dining hall. Coffee is good, and soon he'll have cigarettes, which are even better. Today was shaping up to be alright, he thought as he went to work on a second cup.

Mello ate lightly. He was a little fidgety in anticipation too and couldn't concentrate on his book. He looked at his laptop. He hadn't been on it in a while, having used the desktop in the room for the gambling so it wouldn't be as noticeable. But he decided against it and packed it in his bag with a portable hotspot just in case.

Eleven rolls around and he was on the bus. Once they get to town he waved to Matt and headed off to the restaurant where he was supposed to meet his contact. After that he had the day free and would have money in his pocket.

Matt packed one of his own laptops - he didn't go anywhere without one - as well as the other supplies he needed, including picking out the correct fake ID he needed to pick up the package. He brought two credit cards as well, and his handheld, as usual.

They split once they got into town; looked like Mello has something important to do too, but he doesn't question it. He needed some time to himself as well. He'd looked up a map of Winchester before going down, so he headed to where he knew the post office is and picked up the envelope without much difficulty. His fake ID was a good one; only an expert would be able to tell that it wasn't real. He walked to a secluded spot and took a good look at it; seemed that his contact had done their usual good job.

It was 12:15, so he headed over to the designated area he was to meet up with his client, arriving not a minute earlier or later than 12:30. He waited about two minutes before he saw the person; a university student, probably in their early 20s. He wondered if the ID is some sort of weird brotherly present or just a regular bribe. The university student looked surprised to see that his contact was a 13-year old kid, but as agreed upon before, their exchange was silent. Matt handed him the envelope and the student handed over the convenience store bag.

Prize in hand, Matt headed over to a nearby park. There was a lot of trees with heavy branches, so he climbed one about ten feet up for the added privacy. He examined the contents of the bag: a full carton of cigarettes, containing 10 individual packs, and three new lighters. It wasn't HIS brand, but apparently they weren't carried in England, so these would have to do. This would keep him going for a while, and Matt grinned in delight. Not willing to wait a minute more, he tore into the carton, shoved a package into his pocket and hung the rest from a higher branch. He lit a cigarette and took a drag; it felt so good, he could die happy right now. He swung back from the tree branch, hanging upside down with his knees hooked around it, puffing on the cigarette contentedly.

Things didn't work out so well for Mello. He had known the gambling was chancy at best. Being unable to draw the money himself he has to rely on a college student to do so. Anything where he has to rely someone is chancy at best.

It had worked well the semester before. Unfortunately after one semester the student he'd worked with had graduated and he'd had to find a new one this semester. He'd only managed to a few weeks before. They'd had a trial during which Mello hadn't earned much. The student had come through though and given him the money, splitting it the agreed way. This time he'd earned considerably more. He slowed when he saw the student stood outside the restaurant where they had agreed to meet. He was not alone but was with another student. They were chatting but fell silent when they saw Mello. The student smirked and waved Mello on. Mello stopped entirely.

After a long moment he walked forward, not noticing the other two students that came up behind him.

After the following encounter it took Mello some time to get up from beside a dumpster. His breathing was uneven and it was a struggle to get up. He stumbled, his eyes closed and took stock of where he hurts. Not too bad, he told himself. He pulled his bag to him and got out his sweater and some bandages he always packed when he came to town. He wrapped the bandages around his arms over the forming bruises. It was not a new fashion statement for him so nobody would question it. Still he put a sweater on to hide the marks along his collar. He'll have to change into a different shirt when he gets back. First though...

He zipped up the sweater and went into the little cafe. It has a hotspot so he got out his laptop and turned it on.

The laptop flashed on, but instead of its standard start-up noise, a loud wanton moan emanates from the computer. An image of a large-breasted blonde Playboy model in a highly revealing bikini top came on the screen, her lips puckered. A speech bubble came from her mouth saying "I missed you, Mello," before it reverted to its regular login screen.

Matt hung upside down for some time, smoking cigarette after cigarette. His body is clouded with a smoky haze, and he sighed with happiness, feeling the nicotine buzz coming on. A great feeling, in his opinion. After he finished his fourth, he swung back up and divided the packs between his backpack, sweater pockets and extra hidden pockets on the inside of his jeans. He didn't think Wammy's would do a body search, but you still couldn't be too careful.

Reeking of smoke, Matt passed through the town. He stopped off at a computer parts store and picked up several British power bars (he was having issues with his American ones), and a few odd computer parts for tinkering. He found a local grocery store and bought a variety of British-brand junk foods; he'd give them a shot, at least.

Feeling rather accomplished, Matt felt the need for some mischief. He walked down a main street, looking for a place with easy wireless access that might be some good fun. He spotted a little cafe and went inside. At the counter he ordered a coffee and politely asked for the wireless password. He could get in well-enough without it, but it caused less suspicion if he acted like he was an average kid who didn't know much about computers.

It wasn't until he turned around that he noticed Mello, who looked worse for wear. He frowned: just what had he been up to the last couple hours? He walked over and plunked down on the opposite side of the little table. "What happened to you? Lose a fight with an alley cat?"

Mello had gotten quite a few stares from the odd sounds from his laptop. He had been in no mood to deal with it he simply put up his hood, while a slight flush came over his fair face, and logged in to his computer.

Before anything else he had to the gambling website and completely deleted the account he had on it. It stung to delete all that work but if he wasn't going to get the money that asshole wouldn't either. "Idiot," he muttered scornfully. Planning to double cross him, the college student should have withdrawn the money first.

After that he had just done more research on the BB murder cases and tried to not dwell on how sore he was. When Matt addressed him he didn't look up. "More or less. Then got treated to your joke right after," he said tersely. "Was almost tempted to leave but I had to do something quick and it would've taken too long to find another Internet cafe. I won't be coming in here again."

It took him a second to remember the 'joke' he had planted on Mello's computer a couple days back, and when he did, he snorted into his sleeve and tried to hide the smile on his face. "I thought it would be a good morning greeting," he said with a shrug. "Though your timing sucks. But seriously, you alright?" Though Mello was wearing a sweater, his hair looked a bit mussed and Matt saws the traces of a black eye forming on his face.

He passed his coffee over to Mello, then has a glance around the place. Coffee machines, blenders, lights, etc. He grinned then turned back to Mello. "Well if you aren't coming back, want to see something funny?" He tried to keep an innocent expression on his face.

Mello mentally listed his bruises then shrugs. "I'll be fine. Nothing broken I don't think. Though I may have some bruised ribs."

He finally raised his eyes to look at Matt at the other question. "Funny?" He asked with a twist of his mouth. Then he smiled a bit. "Sure. I could certainly use a pick me up after today."

Matt raised his eyebrows; nothing broken? It hadn't looked too bad to him, but maybe the sweater was a cover for something more... Realizing he had a troubled expression on his face, he wiped it clean with a smirk. "Okay," he said in a singsong voice. "Long as you're sure you don't wanna come back."

He opened up his laptop and connected to the wireless. These chain store systems were so easy to crack; it was scarcely worth the effort most of the time. He started working on tracing the wireless. "Gimme...oh, maybe ten minutes," he said and pointed at the coffee questioningly for Mello to drink in the meantime.

Mello nodded and took a sip of the coffee, wincing slightly when it burned a tender spot in his mouth. It hadn't been wise to fight them. His skills aside college students are older and stronger.

"So what happened to you?" He asked after a minute. "You reek of cigarette smoke. Please don't say you somehow got into a bar or a smoking den or something." He smirked as he says it though.

Matt's vision was focused solely on the computer as he typed rapidly. He gained access to the signal source then traced it through to the electronic systems of the building. It was a simple virus, really. Despite his focus, he laughed a little at Mello's question. "Nah. I just had some catching up to do is all," he replied.

He planted the small virus and set it to activate in exactly five and a half minutes, and then he closed his computer and shut it down. It added to his innocence should they suspect anything, although chances are they wouldn't have a chance to. "Might want to pack up your stuff," he murmured to Mello.

Mello leaned back and raised an eyebrow. "Awfully young to be a chain smoker, aren't you?" He asked snidely. But they're young to be doing any of this crap. Didn't stop them.

He nodded and closed his laptop then put it away in his bag and drank more of the coffee. "So is my laptop going to do it every time I start it or was it just a one time deal?" He asked. "I'll have to mute it if it's going to express affection for me every time I turn it on.

Matt shrugged. "I've been doing it for years already. It helps me think," he said with a carefree attitude. He didn't mention that just about everyone he'd ever known in New York had smoked; it was just a thing that everyone did. It wasn't a big deal; they were just tricky to get if you were underage.

Matt's grin widened at Mello's other comment. "You think muting will stop it? And here I thought you'd enjoy having a lady blowing kisses at you," he said with a snicker.

"I can't turn it on anywhere but the bedroom to do homework if-" he starts heatedly. Then falls silent when Matt's trick starts.

Matt's thoughts were interrupted when the power suddenly goes out in the entire shop. The servers and others looked around at each other, confused. A couple of seconds later "Sandstorm" came blaring through the speakers that were previously playing radio music quietly, the lights flickering on and off to the tune. At the same time, the cash registers all opened with a ka-ching! and every machine behind the counter turned on and spewed various beverages onto the floor much to the servers' dismay.

Matt's face feigned surprise at all this, the picture of innocence.

Mello covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing as the workers who'd given him judgemental, disapproving looks a little while ago scrambled to the machines to turn them off. Some slipped around on the wet floor.

The loud techno music continued to play and Mello watched with amusement for several moments then calmly picked up his bag. "So want to help me find a new Internet cafe since I don't want to come here anymore?" He asked loudly over the music. Nobody but Matt could hear him.

The sight of Mello trying not to laugh affected Matt's feigned expression, and it's all he could do to keep his face straight. He nodded at Mello, covered his ears and tried to look mad, like they were leaving because of the interruption.

Once they were outside and a safe distance from the shop Matt started laughing. "Did you see their faces?" He asked between laughs, his mouth twisted into a wicked grin. He pulled out a package of cigarettes from his pocket. He withdrew two and offered one to Mello while he lit the other between his lips. "Victory smoke," he explained good-naturedly.

"They're certainly remember that for a while," Mello agreed in grim amusement. He hesitated when Matt offered him a cigarette then shrugged and accepted it. Why not? He knew all the pros and cons of smoking. But it had been such a shitty day it might help improve his mood.

He held it out to be lit then put it to his lips and inhaled the smoke. It almost choked him but he continued it anyway and soon felt the effects. "It shouldn't be too hard to find another Internet cafe," he commented and blew out a stream of smoke from his mouth. "They're popular with the college students so there's quite a few."

After lighting Mello's cigarette Matt skipped a little. He felt rather happy and pleased with himself. The British brand of cigarettes wasn't as good as his preferred back home, but they weren't terrible either. "Brits don't make em half bad," he commented, enjoying the flavour and scent.

He snickered at Mello's coughing; he'd clearly never had one before. Such a n00b, he thought to himself and grinned. "What do you gotta do anyways?" He asked the other boy.

Mello shrugged. "I'm just looking for a new one since I don't like that last one now," he hedged. Truthfully he planned on hacking the college website and changing a few of that student's grades. He'd screw his GPA and make him regret cheating and beating Mello. He couldn't even face a young boy by himself but it had been backed up by several other young men. Weak asshole. He realized his face was set in a dark frown and he looked away while he took another drag of the cigarette.

Matt shrugged; it wasn't really his business, but Mello was clearly up to something. If he didn't want to share it, that was his call. He took a final drag and dropped the butt, crushing it into the sidewalk. "How about there then?" He jerked his head at a coffee shop on the other side of the road; the sign read "Green Bean Co." If they sat in a private corner he could work on some of his own stuff. His finances were still pretty cozy but it made sense to keep some padding, just in case. He could use a job or two.

Mello nodded and rubbed the cigarette out against the stone wall of a building next to them. "As long as it has internet," he muttered. His amusement was fading and he just looked grim.

"What coffee shop doesn't have internet?" Matt chided lightly while they crossed the road over to the coffee shop.

Mello ordered a hot chocolate then took it and sat in the corner in the back of the shop. He got out his laptop but paused and glanced at Matt. "Seriously. Is it going to make that sound again?" He asked him.

Matt ordered an espresso then went and joined Mello in the corner. He glanced at him as he sipped the drink. "Only if you turned it off," he said with a sly look in his eye. "It's your new awesome start-up welcome. What does it matter if anyone hears though? Jeez, people are so afraid of anything sexual," he complained half-seriously.

He pulled out his own laptop; they're faced against each other so neither can see the other's screen. He logged into his message boards and went through a few threads. He posted some comments and advice of his own.

Mello made a mental note to start keeping headphones in his bag. The last thing he needed at the school is for everyone to think he's watching porn or something.

But as it happens he hadn't shut his computer down so he just got it back out and woke it up. Now for the college website. This might not be his aptitude like it's Matt's but he was good at it and soon he was making progress on getting into the website. He sipped the hot chocolate and remained focused until he'd cracked it, his face set in determination.

Once he was in he went through the student databases, going by year until he'd found the four students who had been present in the alley. He only changed the grades of the one who'd cheated him though. After that was done he drummed his fingers on the table and looked absently out the window for a few moments while he tried to think of suitable punishments for the others. He finally decided to scramble their student ID numbers. Not a huge thing but it would no doubt cause them some headaches in the future. Grimly satisfied, he left the website, careful to not leave any trace or connection to his own computer.

He glanced up at Matt and almost wanted to boast. But that would involve telling Matt the whole story so he changed his mind and finished his hot chocolate. By now the afternoon was getting on. "We should head back soon. The bus leaves at five. We can come back tomorrow if you want though."

Matt was discussing the logistics of a possible new job when his thoughts are interrupted by Mello talking. He sent his current message then closed his computer; this particular task was more than a little illegal. Granted, no part of hacking and cracking sites was really legal, but certain things were less so than others. This fell into the latter category. On the plus side, it should pay really, really well.

"If the bus comes back tomorrow, then maybe I'll just stay down here tonight," he considered aloud. It would be good to get to know the area really well, just in case. "I can always take it back at the end of the day."

Mello raised an eyebrow at this suggestion. "Do you honestly think they'll let you stay out here all night?" He asked with a smirk. "If you don't get on that bus they'll search for you."

He was silent a moment while he put away his laptop, then added, "it's no more then they'd do for any other student. We're their responsibilities, they're not about to leave us to fend for ourselves overnight. Besides we're supposed to keep as low a profile in town as possible." He stood up and made a face while he picked up his bag. "You can explore tomorrow." For himself he doesn't think he was going to come back the next day. He needed some down time after today and Sunday would be his only chance before the school weeks starts anew.

Matt waved a hand dismissively at Mello. "Will they even notice if I'm only gone for a day?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. He wanted to stay out, but it might not be the best idea should they misinterpret it and decide he was a flight risk. Which he was, but they didn't need to know that. It might make things more difficult if he actually tried to take off.

But he snorted at the second part of Mello's comment. "Leave us to fend for ourselves? What, you guys can't go one night on your own without getting killed or falling off a bridge or something?" The whole notion struck him as ridiculous. Were the other students really that precious? He'd not come home for days at a time when he was younger, and all the other kids he'd known in New York had been the same. "They really keep you on a tight leash, huh?" But he put away his laptop in his bag and stood up to go despite his comments.

Mello frowned but shook his head. "In our last year students are placed in the middle of a strange city and have to survive all on their own," he told Matt pointedly. "I was mainly referring to the fact we're not supposed to be noticed much in this town."

Matt openly laughed at this. "What, so is that supposed to be a challenge?" He asked incredulously. "Unless it's Tokyo or something, I don't get how that would be hard at all." Still laughing a bit, he shrugged on his backpack and shook his head to himself. These kids wouldn't last a day where he was from, he thought to himself.

Mello slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out. The bus is already there when they got to that spot and a teacher with a clipboard was watching the students getting on, checking off names. Mello pulled his hood close and looked down when he approached the adult but as he'd thought nobody asked any questions. He found an empty seat and slumped down, tired.

Matt had opted to return as expected over the risk of being labelled a flight risk. He followed Mello through the bus and sat one row behind him; tucked his feet up and returned to his game. He'd gotten cigarettes, which had been his biggest goal, so he could call the day a successful one.

Annoyed, Mello waited until the teacher wasn't looking then tried to twist around to whack Matt. But his bruises protested turning that way and he grimaced and sat straight.

Once all the students were on the bus they drove back. Mello silently walked to the bedroom and flopped with a heavy, disappointed sigh. He'd gotten his revenge but that still left him without all that money he'd gotten on that gambling website. That, combined with his aches made him want to lie down and not get up for a while. He was hungry but he'll probably skip dinner. As it was he kept his hood up even in the room. He didn't want Matt to see. He'd change clothes when the other went to dinner or was in the bathroom.

Matt didn't pay much attention to anything besides his game on the bus. But he did notice Mello's sour mood. Matt had already asked him about it though, and he didn't seem to want to talk about it, so he didn't feel he could really do much. When they returned to the room he stashed the junk food under his bed and the computer parts in his box, but decided to wait until Mello's asleep before he hid the cigarettes, just in case. He wasn't willing to risk their confiscation.

He did notice that Mello kept his hood up even inside, which made him more curious. He looked to be hiding something; maybe it was worse than he was letting on. This troubles him, though he didn't dare try and find a nurse; Mello would probably be furious with him. So instead when he went for dinner and Mello didn't join him, he did the same thing as Mello had done the day before and brought him back a plate wordlessly before he went back to his computer. He did the assignment for the computer course, though it was painfully easy, then switched over to a videogame.

Even though he didn't want to get up when Matt went to dinner he did and changed into pajama pants and a long sleeved shirt. He studied the black eye in the bathroom mirror but could see no way to hide that unless he kept a sweater on and he was tired of doing that.

He was sitting up in bed with his laptop when Matt came back and he sees the food. "Oh. Thanks," he said gratefully and put aside the computer. He ate ravenously then fell back. What a shitty day. He got under the blankets and faced the wall. Soon he was asleep.

After Mello's asleep, Matt opened a window and smoked a cigarette out of it; that way the smoke wouldn't linger in the room and he had some privacy without fear of getting caught. He went back to his laptops and finished his conversation with the client he had been dealing with earlier; he decided he'll accept the job. Feeling satisfied with this, he played League of Legends late into the night before he fell asleep.


	8. Flight

This week's update. It's harder to be regular with this then I'd thought it'd be but I'm determined. Lots happens in this chapter~

**Chapter 8: Flight**

Matt slept late into the morning, the blankets pulled over his head to block out the light. After getting up, he pulled on some clothes, brushed his teeth then opened the window again for a morning smoke.

Mello hadn't gotten out of bed even though Matt had slept in. He was awake but he laid on his side so he could look at the wall and think. Should he risk trying to find someone new to withdraw the gambling money? It had worked the semester before.

Finally he sighed and got to his feet with a grimace at how sore he was. He glanced at Matt by the window. "Are you going back into town today?" He asked.

Matt was staring out the window disinterestedly when Mello spoke. He released a stream of smoke from his mouth and glanced over. He hadn't noticed he was awake. "I think so," he replied.

Then he had a good glance at Mello's face, since he wasn't wearing the hood anymore, and he did a bit of a double-take. It was looking quite bruised and swollen on one side, and the black eye was an impressive shade of purple. "You might want to get your face looked at," he murmured to the other boy. He knew that if it had been him, he probably wouldn't have taken that same advice.

Mello looked away. "Not going to happen," he growled and disappeared into the bathroom for a few minutes. While he was in there the bell rang for breakfast.

When he came out he was still in the long sleeved pajamas. "I'm going to stay here today," he told Matt and flopped back on his bed. "There's a few things I need to work on." That was a lie but he wasn't about to go into town again. "Mind if I raid your junk food for breakfast?" He added casually. He was hoping his bruises will have faded enough by the following morning that the teachers wouldn't comment. At least the ones on his face. The others he could hide easily enough.

Matt shrugged and flicked the cigarette butt out the window. "Your call," he said. "What happened, though? Accidentally walk into a drug deal or something?" He'd seen bruises like that before, usually on people who got themselves caught up into something they couldn't get out of.

He crouched beside his bed and rummaged around for a bit before he retrieved a bag of chips, a Coke and a package of marshmallows. "Good enough?" He asked as he tossed them over onto the other bed.

Mello nodded and tore open the bag of chips. "Thanks," he muttered. He was silent for several moments while he looked down at his blanket then shrugged. "Yeah something like that. I made a deal with a college student but it didn't work out."

He ate a handful of chips and lied back to stare at the ceiling. He really should take down those landscape pictures. That space could be used so much better. Maybe that's what he would do today.

A deal with a college student huh? So the same thing he had done really, Matt thinks to himself. It was good information to have, in case he needed one of them again in the future. "That sucks," he sympathized. "Shoulda brought someone to have your back." Guess New York wasn't the only place where you couldn't be too careful of others.

Mello smirked grimly. "It wouldn't have made a difference. He didn't even face me alone."

Matt left shortly after for breakfast, during which he enjoyed a couple coffees as he played his game. Today he'd find some key points in town - hospital, police station, 'independent', the computer shops, less reputable places, escape routes - and learn how to make best use of them. He headed back to their room to grab his stuff with this mindset.

When Matt left Mello sighed and rolled to his feet. He took a shower and left the door open so it wouldn't get too steamy in the bathroom. He was really not expecting Matt to come back before going into town. After the shower he put on some pants but paused, with his shirt in his hand and examined the bruises that mottled his torso and arms in the mirror. They looked worse than they had the night before. Not a good sign for the one on his face and his hope it will be less by the following morning.

When he heard the bedroom door open he tensed, aware of how brightly visible the bruises on his back were and swung quickly around to close the bathroom door. He hoped Matt hadn't seen. If he was glued to his game like usual there was a chance of that.

Matt only caught the briefest glimpse of a bruised form before Mello hid himself away in the bathroom. So he was hiding something. He sighed aloud; Mello was clearly not the type to seek out help.

"You really should get yourself looked at, you know," he called out to the door. That's the last he'd say; he wasn't going to push the issue but their size and darkness were a bit disconcerting. He threw his laptop and some other necessities into his backpack.

There was silence for several moments. Mello clenched his fists then sighed and put on his shirt. The bruises on his arms and collar were still visible as he left the bathroom.

"Maybe," he muttered. "But they're just bruises. I doubt the nurse can really do much...and there'd be questions." He eyed the other boy as he exited the bathroom, but his bruises were covered once again. H

e frowned worriedly. "That's what you get for not taking proper precautions," he chided him. "S'why I try to never meet people if I can help it."

He sat down on his bed and rubbed his arm. "But either way someone will ask questions about my face tomorrow morning." He grimaced.

Matt finished packing his bag and stood up. "Some makeup should cover that black eye, if that's what you're concerned about," he suggested. "Though if you make me buy lady products for you while I'm in town, you better make it up to me later," he continued and grinned mischievously.

Mello rolled his eyes. "Just pretend you're getting them for your nonexistent girlfriend," he replied cuttingly and smirked a bit. "You don't have to," he added after a moment. "But I'd appreciate it. And yeah I'd owe you."

Matt feigned a shocked expression. "How do you know I don't have a girlfriend?" He said and crossed his arms. "For your information, her name is Kennedy Summers and she's hot as hell." He threw his backpack over his shoulder. "Even with makeup you won't compare," he said and laughed at his own joke as he walked to the door. "Later dude."

"Right," Mello replied sarcastically and made a note to look this girl up. "See ya." He lied back and got his laptop out to do just that, an idea occurring to him.

In town the college student who'd tried to cheat Mello was waiting by where the bus dropped them off, his arms crossed and his face coldly furious. He watched the boys get off the bus and turned away when he didn't see Mello.

Mello had a peaceful day. He took down the stupid paintings and though the blank spots seem incongruous he left them empty for now until he decided what to put there. He also printed out several photos of Kennedy Summers and put them under Matt's pillow.

Matt spent the trip playing with his handheld as usual. As he left the bus he almost didn't notice the pissed-off guy that stood there, making intimidating faces at the students. Once the students had filed out, the bus driver had a stern word with the gentleman and he skulked off.

Matt knew better than to get close to someone with that kind of expression, but he can't help but be curious. So he followed the guy for a while at a safe distance, concealing himself in shadows and alleys. The person was clearly looking for someone, but he was not sure who. Did it have something to do with Mello...? He didn't see how; as far as he knew, Mello had already received his punishment.

But the guy creeping around was unnerving and reminded him of the behavior of drug dealers and other predators in New York. So he headed over to the police station and told an officer with a faked fearful expression that there was a "scary man watching kids get off a bus" outside. He didn't care about labelling the stranger as something terrible; he was clearly up to no good anyway.

The officer Matt spoke to nodded and got up. He looked out the window at the young man. "Thanks for the tip," he told Matt. "We'll send an officer over to the bus stop when it's loading time." Wammy's house had a good relationship with the local cops.

By this time the young man had disappeared though. The cops were as good as their word and sent someone over but the college student isn't there. It was decided between the cop and the bus driver that the next weekend the arms instructor would be on the bus with a gun.

Having performed the most civic duty he'd done in years, Matt contentedly continued with his mission for the day. He had brought a sketchbook and traced out the main roads and useful side alleys, locations of stairs and ladders, etc. The town had one or two cheap motels as well, which may be useful to him.

The town wasn't big, but it still took him the day to sort out his routes and maps and places of interest. He marked the wealthier and poorer areas in his sketches as well; depending on the time of day, one could be preferred to the other. Contended with his work, he slid the sketchbook into his backpack and went back to the park, enjoying a cigarette or two in the privacy of a tree while he played his handheld.

After the park he headed over to a pharmacy and wandered through their beauty aisles with minimal interest. He looked at various concealers and found one apparently used for covering tattoos and scars. Perfect. He selected the lightest shade of it for Mello's fair skin tone, and not wanting to deal with putting such a girly item through a cashier, pocketed it discreetly. A boy wouldn't be suspected of nicking this sort of product anyway. For good measure, he wandered through the snack aisles and picked up a few things, bought those and exited the store without a problem.

He then went to several computer stores and asked the workers a few questions, to subtly gauge their knowledge and abilities with computers. Most were standard IT guys, but a greasy-haired kid, maybe 20 years old, seemed to have more going on. He'd have to find out more about him, see if he would be useful in any way. He returned to the bus shortly after to head back. He wished he could stay out longer.

When the bus left the town Mello got an email from his contacts in town which gave him a detailed description of everywhere the students he had watched went and everything they did. At least this system was still working. He smiled over the part about Matt stealing the make-up.

The sketches interested him. So Matt was learning the town well. That could be useful to him too. Then he reread the part about the college student who'd alarmed the bus driver and the officers. Could it be the one who'd cheated him..? He'd be mad about the account deletion. For a moment Mello had a moment of unease that he'll tell the school about the gambling. But then Mello comforted himself that the young man couldn't do that, because if he did Mello could reveal his injuries. He'd just have to deal with that next weekend, if the young man was still looking for him then. He smiled, he closed the email and returned to research until Matt got back.

Matt returned with his purchases in tow and slogged up to their room. He dumped his stuff on the floor then pulled the tube of makeup out of his pocket. "Your hero has returned," he said to Mello as he tossed him the makeup. "It cost me my dignity as a man, but I guess I'll recover."

"Yeah yeah." Mello caught the make-up and looked at what kind Matt got. The reports hadn't that detailed, unfortunately. He'd have to educate the students a little more about spying. They were hoping to be agents of some kind after all.

He flopped onto his bed and was surprised by a crinkling sound. He looked around and discovered the pictures that Mello had left under his pillow. "Stalking my girlfriend, huh?" He said with a playful smirk. He looked back at them, probably a little too long. "Dude, can you give me like, 15 minutes alone?" He asked in a joking tone.

He shrugged. "I stalk a lot of people," he said matter-of-factly. "Thanks for setting the cops on that guy. I hope he gets arrested for harassment or some shit." He got up. "I'll give you twenty minutes if you give me a cigarette and call us even for the make-up."

Matt's eyebrows rose up into his hairline at this statement. "What the hell, Mello?" He asked rudely. "Were you having someone tail me? How do you know about the cops?" He found this information to be disturbing, to say the least. He had thought he had taken proper precautions in town. He'd have to be more careful; he shouldn't trust this other boy. If he knew about the cops he probably knew about the sketches, which meant they were all completely useless to him. He had been stupid to think he had some semblance of privacy even outside of Wammy's. He'd make sure to burn them later; he didn't want Mello having that information.

His face twitched angrily and he flopped onto his bed moodily. He put on his headphones; he didn't want to deal with the other boy right then. "Find your own damn cigarettes," he huffed and turned on his console. He was too pissed to even ask if the guy had been connected to Mello or not. He should have given the guy the school's address.

Mello's eyes narrow and he flushed furiously. "If you must know," he said loudly and took a few steps closer to Matt's bed. "Near told me about the cops and that college student." Which was true enough. Near did keep track of what was happening as much as Mello and had noticed all this and he'd been concerned enough to keep Mello informed about events that day.

He grabbed the make-up and stormed into the bathroom. When he came out the bruise was well hidden. He didn't look at Matt but went straight from the bathroom to the door and he went out. He needed to go shoot something. His steps took him right to the inside shooting range.

Matt had been communicating with clients for years, so he knew the art of using dialogue subtly to avoid incrimination or admissions of guilt. Mello's tactful side-stepping of his question was as much a conviction as Matt needed to know he had been followed. Whether he had picked up the information from a boy he strongly disliked or not was irrelevant.

He hated feeling like this; betrayed and angry. He prided himself on keeping his cool. He forced himself to calmly get up once Mello left, and went through his sketches. He burned each one into ashes with his lighter out the window after he tried to memorize it. Like hell he'd let Mello have his information. What a total waste of a day. He burned the images of the Playmate for good measure, then smoked a cigarette to calm his nerves.

It was his fault for placing any amount of trust in someone else. The world was made to fuck him over; he had learned that at a young age. He would be wise to never forget that.

Being left to his own thoughts only let Matt stew more. Who did this guy think he was, sending someone to follow him around? Wasn't he already imprisoned enough?

When he's calmer Mello could see a bit of Matt's side, though he was still pissed. He ate the crunch bar and reminded himself of the partnership he and Matt had started forming for the last week. It was only a start but...he found himself not wanting to lose that. It was true. He did need someone to guard his back.

This week had taught him that more than ever. So when he came back in the room his face is expressionless and controlled. He took a deep breath and regarded Matt. "I've emailed my contacts and you won't be tailed again," he said bluntly. "I will show you the email if you want proof." He paused, then shrugged and looked away. "It's nothing personal, just habit and business. I have every student with enough talent to be a potential rival followed." He turned away and flopped on his bed; he didn't look at Matt now. He ate some chocolate and tried to think on what to put on his ceiling.

Matt was sitting at his desktop, deleting every single file on it when Mello returns. If he left, he didn't want anyone getting anything from him.

"Well la dee dah. Aren't I the lucky one," he replied sarcastically. "How will I ever repay you?" He swivelled to face Mello, his expression serious.

"Listen, Sherlock. Just because you have an obsessive inferiority complex doesn't mean you get to know my business. My life is none of your damn business, so stay the hell out of it." He wanted to add that he doesn't need to worry about him as a rival seeing as he's not planning on sticking around, but he bites his tongue and withholds it. Mello is the last person he wants to make aware that he might be leaving.

Inferiority com-! Mello was in his feet in seconds, his face furious. "I am not inferior!" He shouted. His chocolate was forgotten on the bed with all calming thoughts.

He took several steps forward and towered over where Matt was seated. "I just said I would stay out of it but you couldn't let it go, could you, computer nerd," he growled. "And just shut up. You don't know anything about me or anyone else here but ever since you got here you've been a judgmental asshole putting everything and everyone down. You think you're better than us because you've been through more shit? Well guess what?! You haven't been and you're not any better than any boy here! So just stop with the stuck up attitude!"

He looked up at Mello from his seat, not intimidated at all. "I didn't say you were inferior, stupid. I said you have an inferiority complex. Learn the difference."

He swivelled back to face his computer. He was not willing to put too much energy into the other boy. "You say computer nerd like it's a bad thing. But I'm damn proud of what I can do. I could be teaching your computer class, and it would be a hell of a lot more interesting. But if you'd rather sit around painting your toenails that's your problem. I know who I am. Do you know who you are, or is your whole existence based around becoming someone else's replacement, number two?"

Mello's face flushed and his hand clenched into a fist as he glared murderously at Matt. "You don't know anything about me," he growled.

He forced himself to turn away before he did something he'd regret. He grabbed a pillow and a blanket off his bed and went out. There was a hidden spot on the roof he liked to sleep on during summer. It was a bit chilly for that now but right then he didn't care. The air would help him cool off. It was almost dinner so he stopped at the kitchen and nicked a few things from there. He took it with him up to the roof so he wouldn't have to come down for dinner. He'd probably wake up early and go to the room just to get dressed and ready for class the next morning.

Once Mello left Matt released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach; Mello had deserved it, he told himself.

But then why did he suddenly feel more alone than he had since he'd gotten there? He tucked himself into a ball on the chair and forced the burning behind his eyes away. After a moment he untucked himself and finished copying his desktop's files onto an external driver. After that he wiped the computer clean, even removing the OS, which he had custom-tweaked for himself.

Matt didn't go to the dining hall that night. He hid out in the room then hid himself under the covers, finally, forced himself to sleep.

Chilled, Mello didn't sleep well that night. He came down at around three in the morning, shivering. It had been colder then he'd thought it would be.

He decided to take a hot shower to warm up quick before he got in the bed. But the moment the hot water touched his bruises he regretted it; with a hissed curse he stumbled out of the shower and quickly dressed. He was colder than ever and his bruises stung now. He rushed to curl under the blankets to get warm and berated himself for not having done that in the first place. Slowly his shivering stilled and his body unclenched and he could relax enough to try to get a few hours of sleep.

Matt tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. The guilty feeling on his chest wouldn't seem to fade, but he kept trying to force it out of his mind. He didn't owe anything to his roommate; they had only known each other a week. He had gone out and bought makeup for the guy, and he had repaid him by sending out a tail on him. So there.

He heard Mello return in the middle of the night, but pretended to be asleep and didn't move, not even when he heard cursing from the bathroom. He stayed like that for the remainder of the night, and in the morning he got up early, dressed without a word, and went to breakfast by himself. He intended to avoid Mello as much as possible.

Mello didn't get up. For the first time in a long time he didn't feel motivated. He'd always been driven but Matt's words were still fresh in his mind and he just didn't want to move. He sneezed and burrowed deeper into his blankets, flinching each time the bell rang. Three times. It was class time now. Someone would come looking for him soon but he couldn't bring himself to care _Obsessed, am I?_ He thinks. Well not today.

When someone knocked on the door he got up and opened it for the teacher, looking down. "Sorry, sir. I don't feel well today," he told the man without meeting his eyes.

The man took one look at Mello and could see that. "Alright. Turn in your homework and you'll be excused. But please get dressed and go see the headmaster. He wants to speak with you." Mello nodded slightly and closed the door. He got dressed slowly.

Matt went through the motions of class, though he didn't pay much attention. His mind was focused elsewhere. He decided that he'd leave next weekend, after taking the bus into town. It should take a good number of hours before anyone realized he was missing, so he'd get a head start, especially if Mello's spies actually had been called off. He turned in his algebra assignment but that was the only productive thing he accomplished all day.

The headmaster looked up when he saw Mello enter. He frowned at what appeared to be a slight limp on the boy. "I trust you are well?" He asked in his usual monotonous voice, though his face showed some concern.

He folded his hands on his desk and looked at Mello calmly. "I wanted a moment of your time to ask you how your new roommate is adjusting. Are you getting along well?" He asked this knowing Mello's temperament full well. But there's also the matter of the other boy. "I've heard he's made the circumstances of his... acceptance... rather apparent."

Mello nodded and sat down in front of the man's desk. "I'm fine," he said quietly. It was all he could do to keep his face expressionless at the other questions. He felt his heart sink. "Ah...yeah. For the most part we've been getting along well." Other than me losing my temper and ruining everything, he added silently.

He rubbed his arm. "Yeah. He um...boasted about it. But I think he's settling in. He really enjoys a few of the classes. And got on with the arms instructor."

"I'm glad to hear it," the headmaster replied. Though he frowned at the highly assertive boy's unusual quietness. "Is there anything troubling you at all?" He asked, a fatherly expression coming over his face. "You don't seem quite yourself."

The boy shook his head though. "I think I'm just catching a bit of a cold," he told the adult. "I'll rest today and should be fine. Though..." He paused. This was a good chance to deal with his other problem. "May I be excused from gym tomorrow? Or at least swimming? I don't think it would be good to get in cool water if I'm getting sick."

The headmaster suspected there was something more going on here, but Mello was an excellent student, one of the best, and had always proven himself diligent and hardworking, so he let it slide. "Take the time you need," he said with a kind smile. "Though not one minute more; it wouldn't be like you to fall behind, now would it?" He shuffled a few papers on his desk before he decided to add one final thought. "And should something be troubling you sometime in the future, know my door is open." He dismissed the boy with a kind nod.

"Thank you, sir. I won't fall behind," he promised. He got up and walked out. He felt worse than ever for telling so many half-truths. His stomach growled but he ignored it and went back to the bedroom.

He tried a shower again and didn't make the water quite as hot this time. Then he laid down until lunch. At that point he couldn't ignore his hunger so he got up and went to the dining hall where he sat alone and picked at his food. After a few minutes he gave up and took his plate back to the bedroom.

Matt didn't see Mello during any of the morning classes, but that was just as well; he felt guilty for what he had done, but making up with him would only make Saturday harder, so he continued his avoidance of his roommate. Between classes he stayed away from the bedroom, played his game and smoked in a private spot outside.

At dinner he again sat by himself, as far away from the others as possible. He focused on his game and refused to look up lest he meet someone's eye. It wasn't until late that he returned to the room.

Mello wasn't in the bedroom. Despite how cold he'd gotten the night before he'd taken his pillow and several blankets off his bed tonight and gone back to the roof. It wasn't even to avoid his roommate. He needed the fresh air; to just lie and stare at the stars even though after only a little while of breathing in the cold, damp air makes him feel cold inside. He sighed and covered up completely with blankets. This time he didn't come back in during the night. He was skipping gym so he didn't see the point and he was warm enough with the multiple blankets. Morning dawned to his stripped, empty bed.

Matt slept only moderately better than the night before, and he hadn't slept at all the night before. He was in a terrible mood for a day of athletics, and Mello hadn't even come in that night. Where was he? But he needed to focus on just getting through the day. A thick knot was twisted in his stomach when he remembered that he had agreed to swim lessons a week ago. What had he been thinking? But if he wanted others to not suspect anything, he had to at least pretend like he was somewhat enjoying himself.

He got through track somehow, with only minimal grumbling this time, before he headed over to the private pool. He changed quickly, forcing his mind to not think about it and met with the lifeguard. He was already embarrassed that he didn't know how to swim, but it became even more so when he actually tried. It started with just learning how to float on your back, but all Matt could think about was all the water beneath him, and how he felt like a floating dead body down a river. The thought made him panic, so he sank, which freaked him out more. It was a vicious cycle. He was mad at himself for having made such a fool out of himself, his nerves were shot, and even the lifeguard seemed to be getting annoyed that he couldn't do even the simplest of basics.

Eventually they moved onto a front crawl, but having his full face in the water made it worse. They were somewhere between the shallow and deep end, and after a couple of attempts, he accidentally took a breath too early and inhaled a chestful of water, making him choke and flail. The lifeguard had to pull him out, and after he had caught his breath, still feeling pool water sloshing around in his stomach and chest, he shakily got to his feet and started to walk away.

"Hey! Lesson's not over yet," the lifeguard called to him. Matt turned; his face was a livid, humiliated shade of red, his expression contorted into a snarl. "The lesson IS over," he said and clenched his fists, his hands shaking. His embarrassment and fear in the pool, his fight with Mello and his frustration with his predicament and the school in general, all came together to a boiling point, and he felt hot tears of rage spill over his face.

"What the hell is this shit?" He shouted at the lifeguard. "This isn't what I do! I don't fucking swim, and I don't fucking do track, and I sure as hell don't make fucking friends!" He was sobbing at this point, unable to contain the emotion. "Why the hell was I brought here? This whole thing is just a huge waste of time! I hate it! I hope this school burns to the ground!" And with those words he stormed away to the change rooms, barely taking the time to grab his stuff as he left.

Mello was walking down the hall to the dining room when he heard a clump of boys pass him, talking about the new kid crying in the changing room. He stopped and watched them go into the dining room, his face expressionless.

Then he turned and headed for the changing rooms. He didn't expect Matt to still be there. Maybe they'd meet on the way? He didn't know what he expected or what he'd do.

His steps were slow as if he was reluctant and his bare feet padded quietly on the tile floor in this part of the building. He got to the changing room, opened the door and looked around.

Matt hadn't stayed longer than it took to grab his clothes, so he was long gone by the time Mello showed up. He escaped to a private area outside to change rather than stay in the building, then promptly threw up a stomach full of water. He pulled out a cigarette with shaky hands and forced himself to calm down and the tears to stop. He put his goggles back on, and they made him feel slightly better.

Not long after he faintly heard the bell for lunch going off. His mind raced; all he could think about was escaping this hellhole. He had totally screwed his plan, but it was too late to regret that. All he could hope for is that Mello wasn't in the room when he returned.

He found the least-travelled path to the dorms and forced himself to walk calmly, casually, as though there was nothing on. He even pretended to play his handheld. He looked around and listened to the door for a moment; didn't sound like anyone was in there, and Matt thanked whatever God had decided to help him out for once.

He opened the door and closed it quietly. He packed as quickly as possible, stuffed everything into his backpack. His two laptops, a couple changes of clothes, his IDs and credit cards, some of the games for his handheld, his chargers. Just the bare minimum; hopefully it would look like hardly anything was missing at all. He looked at his consoles and all the games he'd be leaving behind, and started to tear up again. He shook his head and set his face determinedly. He refused to glance at Mello's side of the room as he walked out, casually, though he slipped out of the building trying to be as unnoticeable as possible. He headed towards the trees and within minutes he disappeared.

The only head start Matt got is through lunch. When he didn't show up for martial arts a teacher came to his room. Mello looked up from where he was curled on the bed when a teacher opened the door. "Matt isn't in here?" The teacher asked in surprise.

Mello shook his head and got to his feet. The teacher was hurrying away. Once the alarm was raised the entire school was searched in a short while and then they fanned out on the grounds and farther, on foot. A car was sent into town to search there and to alert the police department to get help to look.

Mello watched the search from the window, feeling number then ever other than a sick feeling in his stomach. It was no surprise when he was called again into the headmaster's office. He sent off a quick email to his contact in town to search too then went to the office.

Matt kept to the trees until he hit a main road, then waited for a car heading in a direction completely opposite to Winchester. It didn't take long, not with a bribe in hand anyways. He was staying as far as possible away from that town; it couldn't be trusted. He'd go north instead, far north, before he figured out his game plan. He stayed with the car for about an hour, then flagged down a truck heading north, taking him three hours up and away. He didn't let himself think about anything other than his next steps. He'd stop at the next large town, check out the rough areas, and find a place where they wouldn't question a kid setting up for the night by himself.

At the school, the headmaster met with Mello, trying to not seem agitated. "Please sit," he gestured to Mello. "I assume you've heard the news. Did Matt say anything to you, do anything that might give us an idea as to his whereabouts?" He ran a stressed hand through his gray hair.

"We fought Sunday night," Mello found himself saying. "I thought..." He faltered then continued, his voice stronger but still in a monotone. "I thought we'd work it out after we both cooled down. I heard some students saying they'd seen him crying in the changing room today but I haven't seen him all day."

He paused and took a deep breath. "But you're looking in the wrong direction, sir. I really doubt he'd head into that town knowing how many connections we have there. He probably went the completely opposite direction."

The headmaster thanked Mello for his advice, asked him to keep him informed as to whether he heard of anything and patted the boy on the shoulder comfortingly.

Matt hit a mid-size town by evening, and he had a couple hours daylight around to sort accommodations out. He found an old motel squeezed between two other buildings, its burned-out sign made it hardly noticeable. It was here that he made his nest for the night. He took off his goggles and put them in his backpack, along with his favourite striped shirt that he was currently wearing; they would be identifying features, so he couldn't wear either for a while.

He was mentally exhausted and didn't feel like doing anything, but if he didn't want to be caught, he needed to work his ass off now. He pulled up a map of England and figured out where he was, then traced his current location to London and a couple of other larger cities; they were the easiest to blend in after all. He'd take an overnight bus; he brought up the local transit and found a train route and bought a ticket online for 3 AM that morning.

Feeling more dejected then ever Mello rested the remainder of the day and attended classes the following morning. He knew the teachers were looking but somehow he didn't feel like they were doing enough.

After the last class of the day he went to the headmaster to ask how things were going, only to find him meeting with the life guard. He raised his hand to knock on the open door but sneezed before he could. Both turned to look at him. "I was just wondering if you've traced where Matt went," he told them quietly.

It was morning when Matt arrived in London on the train. It wasn't a direct route, but it had gotten him there. Completely exhausted, he located the city's China Town and passed out in an old motel there. He slept deeply for the first time in days. When he woke up, it was late afternoon and he spent the remainder of the day talking to his clients back in the States, trying to see if there's a way he could sneak back over on a fake ID or some other way; if he was reported missing he'd absolutely be stopped at the airport so undercover was the only option. Not to mention his criminal record.

Back at the school, the headmaster and lifeguard exchanged a look, and the headmaster sighed. He didn't want this information spreading, but he also felt like Mello had a right to know SOME of the details, at least. He paused. "There was a tip-off at the police station from someone who thought they saw him in a car heading north. We're pursuing that tail; looks like you were right about him heading in the opposite direction of Winchester." He offered Mello a small consoling smile. The lifeguard looked like he wanted to say something to Mello, but glanced at the headmaster and kept his mouth shut.

Mello's eyes flashed and anger came plainly into his face. More than twenty four hours and that's all they have...?!

"Sir, it's been more than a day since he left," he said slowly and was doing his best to keep his voice even. It didn't work very well. "He can be...anywhere by now! How can you not know more than that?!"

Why did this upset him? He'd known all along Matt would probably bolt. He knew Matt was doing well out there. But it infuriated him that they were doing so poorly in tracking him. This was supposed to be a school for the best detectives in the world and the school can't track one of its own students?!

A stern look came into the headmaster's face. "I'd thank you to keep your temper, Mello," he said, a frown on his face. He gave Mello a moment to collect himself before he continued. "That is as much as I am willing to divulge to a student. I understand that you were roommates, but only those working on the case are privy to further details." He thought about the small town they had scoured that morning, at which all traces of the boy's presence had died. Matt knew how to keep himself hidden.

Mello took several moments to try to keep a rein on his temper but he was still clearly angry. "I'd like to be put on the case, sir," he finally said, as calmly as he was able. "Please," he added. "If there's more information, good. But I'm confident I can help. I learned a few things about Matt this last week. I can help find him."

The headmaster looked long at Mello. "We are not in the business of requesting assistance from ill students," he said gently. "But perhaps you are right, though I don't like the idea of you leaving the school until you are well again." He considered this for a moment. "I'll speak with Near about the two of you joining forces to aid in the search."

Mello clenched his fists. Near?! "He-" knows nothing about Matt! But he didn't shout that and bit his tongue. "Very well, sir," he muttered. But his mind was racing. No way.

An idea occurred to him. One that would get him in trouble, no doubt. But it'd be the only way to find Matt without Near or the school interfering. "I'll be in my room, sir, if you need me. I have school work to get caught up on." He turned to go, planning something far different then homework.

"Now just a-" the headmaster started, but Mello was already gone from the room. He sighed and shook his head; that boy had a mind of his own. Instead he focused his attention on involving Near, requesting his instructor to send him down at the end of the next class.

Back in London, Matt was growing frustrated. Getting back into the States is looking like a more monumental task by the minute, one that would take time that he didn't have. He was aware he couldn't stay in London long; he had hinted at Mello that if he bolted that was where he'd be, and though he didn't expect the boy to come after him after what had happened, it would be problematic if he did. The best thing for him would be to keep moving. If he was stationary, he'd be caught.

London. Matt had mentioned it a few times and had also shown he would prefer a big city. He was from New York so that makes sense. People, even ones as clever as them are creatures of habit and prefer familiar settings. The moment Mello got back to his room he sent off an email to his contacts and gathered a few things himself.

He paused then and mentally made a list of other big cities in England and smaller cities just in case Matt tried to avoid big cities. He'd need to be by an airport too. That limited things. On the way he'd look up a list of airports. He shouldn't rule out Matt leaving the country by other means though. After all it was just a short boat trip to France. Even if he crossed into Scotland or went to Ireland it would be harder to find him. So ports too then-

Why am I doing this? The question brought all these thoughts to a grinding halt and the words Matt had thrown at him take their place, threatening to make his lethargic mood of the last two days descend again.

He shook it off and slung his duffel bag over his shoulder. I don't want it to end that way. If the police found Matt the school might not be able to keep him from going to prison. And the school was working hand in hand with the police because they didn't have the resources to conduct a big search on their own. So I'll find him. Even if he doesn't come back here.

It's the dinner hour now. He went out as if he was headed for the dining hall with the other students then when the teachers weren't looking he slipped out into the garden and was soon out of sight beyond the hedges and into the forest. When he came out onto the road a car was waiting for him filled to capacity with some college students studying to be agents who could spare the time. He got in and they took off toward London. Mello got out his laptop and started his lists, working from his line of thought earlier and went from there.


	9. Fox Hunt

new chapter yay I'm still being consistent~

**Chapter 9: Fox Hunt**

Matt puzzled over his predicament. He shouldn't stay in London more than a day, really. It didn't compare at all to New York but at least it was bustling. The city noise brought him comfort at night.

Matt stayed up late into the night, trying to sort out the best possible route. He scoured the internet for any word of his disappearance, but it looked like the news hadn't been released to the public. That was better for him; that way he didn't have to watch out for every single person. Just the police would be okay for the moment.

What if he posed as a tourist for a while? Some kid doing research for a project? No one should suspect anything amiss with that; it happened all the time in New York. Scotland and England had lax border laws because of all the tourism between the two; he'd take a train north, then pretend to be doing research on historical castles. Doing further research, it looked like there was a variety of day trips between the countries; he'd take a train up into Scotland then slip away. Being in another country should further confuse his trail as well. Perfect.

During the drive Mello had contacted a teacher at the school. One he thought would be on Matt's side in this. Or at least enough that he'd want Matt found without the boy going to prison.

The instructor had informed him the police were watching the ports on this side and in Ireland and France. So a boat was out of the question then. Mello had also considered the fact that Matt had fled after swimming class and remembered his reluctance the week before. So water probably wouldn't be his first choice anyway. The teacher also told Mello that his absence has been noticed, obviously. "I have a decent network," he told the instructor. "You don't have to worry."

"There's several veterans I know. I'll contact them and tell you if they find anything."

"Thank you," Mello replied. He got off the phone and sneezed. He was starting to feel sick for real. He didn't rest though; instead he drank some coffee and waited for information. The school won't be looking for him if they're smart. They'll know if Matt is found Mello will come back.

Once they were in London one of the college students checked them into a cheap motel. The three young men and one young woman contacted local friends and allies, giving Matt's description.

Back at the school the headmaster had indeed been made aware of Mello's disappearance. He wasn't happy about it, but he understood his motivation, so he decided to let him be. It seemed one of the instructors had gone missing too, and if they had gone together, all the better. He redirected Near to do what he can from the school, to see if he can dig up any new information or come up with some theories.

The next morning Matt took a train at the crack of dawn, again buying his ticket online under a false name. The train attendant gave him a bit of a strange look, but Matt smiled brightly and tried for a subtle British accent, explaining that he was visiting his Aunt up north. This seemed to assuage the attendant and he got on the train without incident. It was a nine-hour train ride up to northern England, and he spent the time trying to learn how to fake a British accent properly. Outside of the city it would be seen as weird to be an American kid by himself and he didn't want to draw attention. He kept his goggles in his backpack. It felt strange to not have them on but they could be a giveaway for him.

Despite his efforts Mello did doze off in the middle of the night. He was shaken awake early the next morning by the young woman. The sun was just rising.

He sat up quickly, forcing himself to be alert with some mixed results. "I just got a text from an old friend from high school," she told him. "She works at the train depot now and told me that a boy about the age of the one we're looking for got on a train a little while ago, trying to fake a British accent." She showed him a train schedule. "He's headed north. The next train going that way doesn't leave until 10 though."

Mello nodded and took the train schedule, memorizing the name of the town it arrived in.

The others had gathered. "Most of us need to go back to the college," one of the men informed him. "We don't have contacts that far north anyway."

A young man with curly dark hair stepped forward though. "I have some. And some old veteran offered to let us use his car." That had been odd to him, clearly, but he hadn't questioned it. "It's a good car. It might help us cut down the time we'd lose if we wait for the next train."

Mello nodded and rubbed his eyes. "Okay. But I want to get in touch with that veteran first." The young man nodded and went out quickly. The others packed the few things they'd brought. Mello drew his legs up and curled up some, lowering his head onto his arms and thinking. It would slow them down to wait for the train. But in that time the arms instructor could catch up if Mello called and asked him to come. Having an older adult with them would make them less conspicuous traveling together. Mello really doubted the school will be tracking him but he was still trained to move as unnoticeably as he can. And the school would worry less. Besides more than anyone else at the school Matt had respected that teacher. He had him on the line in a few moments and by the time the young man came back with the veteran Mello was standing up. "Thanks for the offer but we're taking the train. We need to wait for someone."

A few hours later they met the arms instructor at the train station and the three of them took the next train north.

It's late afternoon by the time Matt hit the northern town, and he immediately walked to the tourism center nearby, which he had looked up on the train. He bought a round-trip ticket to visit the Glasgow castles, explaining cheerily it was for a school project, his British accent improved in the last 9 hours. He could pick up something pretty quickly once he put his mind to it. He made it on to the last trip of the day just barely.

It was another few hours ride, and Matt was antsy from being on a train all day then the bus. He just wanted to catch his breath and rest; all this travel was making a dent in his bank account. He stayed with the group for a number of hours, pretending to take notes, then slipped quietly away. He'd spend the night in Glasgow then find a place somewhere in the city where he'd be left alone to get his bearings, make some money and decide on his next steps.

Mello rested during the long train ride. The arms instructor had brought him some cold medicine. It helped the symptoms to lighten up but made him sleepy.

It has worn off by the time they arrive in the evening. The teacher had also rested so he was feeling pretty awake. He had many contacts due to his time in the army and it wasn't not a very big town. It doesn't take them long to find a tourist center.

The clerk is a young woman, and flattered by the college student's attention. He had a bit of a Scottish accent and he worked it, telling her the younger brother of a friend came to do research for a school project. Would she be kind enough to tell him what tour he took? Matt's British accent aside a boy traveling by himself was still a notable enough thing that she remembered and told the young man.

While they'd been waiting the arms instructor had called a friend and a rental car was waiting for them. By the time Matt was arriving in Glasgow Mello and the two men are on their way to that city.

Once Matt hit Glasgow it was evening. He needed to find somewhere to hunker down for a few days, stay under the radar. He was far enough from the school that he felt he could do that now.

He went to a local grocery food and got enough food to tide him over for a few days, then found a motel and booked three nights there, his excuse being "My mom will be here in a little, she's out shopping." The great thing about these lower class places was they almost never asked questions.

Matt settled in, intending to not leave the room until he had made some cash and had somewhere to go. It looked like the states weren't an option in the meantime. He'd find his way back eventually though.

They ran into a dead end of sorts in Glasgow. The arms instructor got them a hotel room at one that wasn't as cheap as the one in London but cleaner. And he insisted that Mello stayed there to rest and do homework so he'd stay caught up, much to the boy's indignation.

But they didn't know where Matt was. Veterans the instructor had called in kept an eye on all tourist offices and the roads in case Matt left. But they don't know where in town he was and trying to find out where he was staying had been brought up short. The Scottish hotel workers in the town refused to give out any information about their guests.

So they waited and Mello's cold set in. He grew frustrated and restless as several days passed. After three days he snuck out one evening while the teacher was at the hotel bar with some friends. He hadn't taken any cold medicine since that morning so it had worn off and he felt a slight heat in his face and his sinuses ached. He sneezed and blew his nose at the door then walked off down the street, his hands in the pockets of his coat. It was colder up this far north then it had been at midnight at the school when he'd caught the cold.

After three days Matt had come up with a game plan, though it was highly risky. He should be receiving a fake ID in the mail in the next day, and he'd found a Scottish woman willing to pose as his mother. Between those two things, he had nearly cleaned out his bank account. He only had one shot at this.

His flight to New York was booked two days from now, and his appearance had to match that of his new ID, Carla Gainsborough. The Photoshop job was super sleek.

He thought of this as he headed out late to buy some black hair dye. He'd have to buy a girl's outfit too, but that would wait for tomorrow.

Heading back to the motel with purchase in hand, he felt a strong sense of determination. This had to work. It was the only way. He rounded a corner and his heart almost stopped when he saw Mello not 20 feet away, walking in his direction.

Matt immediately slipped into a small space between the buildings, trying to walk calmly so as not to draw attention. He cursed under his breath, praying the other boy hadn't seen him. How the hell had he traced him this far?!

A flash of movement ahead made Mello raise his eyes. But nobody was there. He tensed, his hand going to the knife on his belt. The effect was ruined by a huge sneeze though. His eyes water and he swiped angrily at them.

There was nobody there. Hunching his shoulders he kept walking and stopped in front of an alley, looking around. Another sneeze shook him and he groaned and leaned against the wall, sinking down to the sidewalk and leaning his head back. He put a hand to his burning forehead and brushed his hair back from it.

He didn't remember closing his eyes but when he heard footsteps he was alert in moments. Had they been in the alleyway behind him? He half turned, leaning over to peer into the dark alley. Then a hand gripped his arm and pulled him to his feet. "Let go!" He shouted in alarm and his body reacted instinctively. But the firm grip didn't loosen and the figure took the few blows Mello dealt out stoically.

"Relax, blondie, it's me," the teacher growled. "You shouldn't be out here. You're going to make yourself sicker." Mello looked away sullenly and said nothing.

Matt made his way down the alley as quietly as possible, his heart pounding in his chest. He was hyper-attentive to every sound and nearly panicked when he heard footsteps stop at the entrance to the alley. He walked a bit faster, but soon realized the alley is a dead end.

He looked around wildly; he couldn't go back the way he had come, and he could have sworn he heard a gruff voice with Mello. He spied a side door and he tried it; thankfully it was unlocked. Just as he was about to step inside, he tripped. An empty paint can had gotten in the way and its resounding clatter echoed off the alley.

This was the kind of mistake you'd get killed for in New York. He ran through the opening, closed the door and tore through the dark, unfamiliar building.

The teacher's head whipped around when he heard the clatter of the can and a door slam in the alley. He looked at the building on the side the sound had come from and released Mello, running around to the other side of the building. There'd only be one other exit. He got on his phone and called his friends, speaking hurriedly. It could be anyone but if there was one thing teaching at Wammy's house had taught him it was to trust his intuition.

When his friends came running from the hotel he directed one to guard to the door in the alley and the others to search for any other way out just in case. He didn't see Mello. "Shit..." He growled.

Mello had gone into the building after Matt. He searched through the darkness, his breathing labored since his nose was still running. So he was not exactly moving quietly. But at this time of night the business was deserted but for him and...whoever had come in here. He hoped it was Matt or he might be in danger. Anger was still stirring in him, despite his weariness.

The building appeared to be some kind of factory, at least on the main level, a stroke of luck for Matt. There'd be plenty of places to hide behind.

Matt ran as fast as he could through it, his first thought being to go to the roof to get a lookout. But then he heard loud footsteps behind him, getting louder by the second. He was going to be outrun, damn it!

Matt ditched his first plan in favour of finding a hiding spot. He threw the bag with the hair dye behind some boxes; it was too noisy. He came across some jagged and broken crates and crouched behind them, covering his hand with his mouth to cover the sound of his breathing.

Mello had been close behind the figure. He had seen him! Then he had rounded a bend into a room and when Mello entered the figure was gone.

He sagged against a wall, trying to catch his breath and breathing loudly. Well there was no secret of his location...

The fever burned behind his eyes and he felt a little delirious. "Matt, get your ass out here," he hissed. "We're not dragging you back to the school, if that's what you think. We're just here to..." He faltered and fell silent, uncertainty filling him. He was still angry but there was something else. He wasn't even sure what himself but it had driven him to do all this. Even though he'd be punished and shamed at the school if he returned without Matt. Despair warred with his anger when he realized that. He'll never be thought to be better than Near now.

Matt gritted his teeth at Mello's statement. If they weren't trying to drag him back, then why the hell were they chasing him down? It had to be a lie.

But Mello knew that he was in the same room as him. He would find him soon enough; it was only a matter of time. He hesitated for a moment, then slowly stood from his crouched position behind the crates, taking a jagged beam of wood with him, though he kept it hidden behind the stacks. He was caged now, and he wasn't going to go down without a fight if it came to that.

He looked at Mello with a calm expression. "If you're not here to drag me back, then go. Forget me, Mello, and leave."

The moment Mello saw him he straightened. Then he lunged forward and punched Matt. It hadn't been planned so there wasn't as much force behind it as there might have been but it was certainly no light tap.

"You asshole! Do you have any idea what you've-" a sneeze interrupted him and he stumbled, glaring at Matt.

Matt had good reflex, but Mello was more athletic, so he didn't get the beam up in time to whack the other boy before he'd been punched. He fell down, dropping the beam, then grabbed it from the ground and swung it upright, hitting Mello in the side. He scurried backward then stood up with the beam in hand, holding it like a baseball bat, grimacing from the punch. "I don't want to hurt you," he said to the other boy. "So don't force my hand, okay? Go."

Mello huffed when he felt the beam hit him and he stumbled back before falling on his butt. "It'd do no good. There's an army veteran at every door," he told Matt, still glaring.

"Blondie's right." The arms instructor walked in, his arms crossed. "So you're to give me that stick, video games. And you're to sit down like a good lil boy and work out whatever shit you need to with him. And then I'll decide what to do with you after that."

The arms instructor startled Matt, who was focused on Mello. He gripped the beam tighter and backed away slowly from the two of them. He was cornered, and now he was angry. Damn it. He wasn't going to give up now. He knew he didn't stand a chance against the instructor, but if he was going to go down, he was going to go down giving them everything he's got.

"We're not dragging you back, hah, yeah right," he said to Mello, giving him a withering glare. "And this has nothing to do with him," he said to the army instructor. "So leave me the hell alone." He widened his stance.

"Oh yeah?" The teacher asked. He took out a cigarette; an American brand. Then he took out another. He glanced at Mello. "Sorry, kid. You're sick. Otherwise I'd give you one." He held the second out to Matt. "I don't believe you. He left the school without permission, risking everything he's worked for, for the last several years. Something's biting his ass or he wouldn't have done it."

He fished a lighter out of his pocket and with the same hand hoisted his shirt up to show the gun on his hip. "Last chance, video games. Drop the damn stick or you can drop it with this thing pointed at your face."

Matt took another step back, a snarl on his lips. "I don't see how other people's actions are my problem," he spat the words at the instructor. "I didn't leave cause of him. I only stayed as long as I did cause of him. I can't help it if you people can't take a hint and fuck off."

He made no move to take the cigarette, just continued slowly backing away, holding the beam in a death grip. When he saw the instructor's gun, he withered a bit, but then openly laughed. "You think I never had ones of those things pointed at me before? You have any idea where I grew up? I'm not afraid to die."

The teacher sighed and lit his cigarette. "No," he said bluntly. "And really I don't give a fuck. That has nothing to do with the present circumstances. Nobody wants to hurt you." He paused, "well blondie might still want to, but he's in no condition to. And you've already repaid him for the punch."

"So." He took a step forward and blew out a stream of smoke. "We didn't take the hint. That would require an amount of social grace that the geniuses at Wammy's house just don't have. Drop the _damn_ stick, talk to blondie, and we'll see about things after that. And no, you're not going back to the school if you don't want. I wouldn't do that to the unsuspecting teachers. I know you could make all our lives' hell if we locked you up there."

"Then why the hell did you chase me all the way out here, if not to drag me back or throw my ass in jail?" He asked defensively. He backed up a bit more, eyeing the exit, though he did loosen his grip some at the instructor's assertion.

He laughed a little, despite himself. He was so close to getting back home, and then this had to happen. If he didn't think of something soon, he was really fucked. "I told you, I didn't leave cause of him," he said to the instructor. "It was the school." He looked at Mello. "It wasn't cause of you, dude."

"I wasn't chasing your ass," the teacher remarked and again offered the cigarette. "At the risk of sounding gay, I was chasing his," he jerked his thumb at Mello whose mouth dropped open in outrage but the teacher cut him off before he could say anything. "Someone needs to keep an eye on you kids, no matter how grown up you think you are. Brains are no substitute for experience, as I'm sure you've realized, video games. As for the school...well we could work on that. All of your stuff is still there, isn't it? If you just spoke up about what you wanted or didn't want things would've been a whole lot better." He snorted. "But the school discourages that, don't they? And they wonder why the kids have so many things they shouldn't have." He shook his head.

Matt snorted at the instructor's joke, and a little more at Mello's reaction to it. He considered the instructor's words, but shook his head; school wasn't made to tailor to their whims, it was to keep them in line, in their individual, identical boxes. "Only some of my stuff is there," he muttered, thinking of everything he had back home, assuming his asshole landlord hadn't sold it all off the second he vanished. He was still renting the place after all.

Mello slowly climbed to his feet. He didn't really know what to say or do anymore. The arms instructor made him feel like a little kid. That, combined with how sick he felt and his fever have pretty well stopped him in his tracks. "Why didn't you even say anything to me?" He demanded.

Matt looked at Mello and shrugged. "It didn't really happen...the way I wanted it to," he said to the other boy. "I was gonna leave next weekend in town, get a proper head start." He sighed, suddenly feeling incredibly drained. "Wammy's may be great and all for you, but it's not for me. No school is." He still held the beam, but had lowered it a bit more. "Look. I got a couple of things I'm good at, and a whole lot of stuff I'm not good at. The stuff I'm not good at, I'll never be good at, and the stuff I am, I'm way more advanced at than any of you. So what's the point? There's nothing I can learn there."

The teacher put away the cigarette that Matt is obviously not going to take. "Okay," he said thoughtfully, glancing down at Mello.

"This is a wonderful chat but it's fucking cold out here and I'm sure that's not doing anything good for Mello. So how about this: come back to our hotel with us. I'll buy you dinner and you can stay with us tonight. We can finish our discussion somewhere warm and pleasant before the cops show up and book us for trespassing."

Matt glanced at Mello; he did seem to not be feeling well. He was unusually quiet. "I got my own place," he said uncertainly. But there was no way he was going to get out of this building without being tackled and dragged. If he went with it for now, he could escape again later, when he wasn't as cornered. He still had two days.

But he didn't entirely trust the instructor or Mello, so when he finally released the beam, dropping it to the ground, he half expected the teacher to tackle him and put him in handcuffs. He braced for the worst.

Nothing happened though. "Took ya long enough to do what I asked ya to do at the very beginning," the teacher grumbled and turns to lead the way out. Mello stood watching Matt. He glanced at the teacher's undefended back and ran a gloved hand through his hair then hunched his shoulders a bit and followed him. Neither glanced back to whether Matt will follow or not. Mello itched to but he didn't. Going somewhere warm sounded way too nice, either way. And going with the teacher was the only way anyone's getting past the ones watching the exits.

Matt was almost left with a sense of disappointment when he wasn't punched, or tackled, or something else like that. He stayed still for a moment, debating his options, then followed slowly, and at a distance. He was trapped in this building, and he had to get out one way or another. So although he didn't like it, he followed.

When they got to the exit there was a car waiting, started and warmed up. "Oh good," the adult remarked, looking pleased. He stopped at the entrance though and casually reached back to grip Matt's arm. Not tightly but his grip was firm. "No bolting now. You can leave after we talk a little more." He guided him to the back door of the car which was already opened. Mello had gotten in the other side and was looking out the window.

Matt startled when the instructor grabbed his arm and pulled away on instinct though there was no use. Grumbling a bit, he got into the back of the car with Mello on the other side. He really didn't look so hot, but Matt had his own ass to worry about right now. For all he knew they'd drive straight back to Wammy's or the nearest police station.

He sat rigidly, his hands clenched in his lap, looking straight ahead. His mind cycled through his various options as to how this could go down.

And they all drive a mile or so down to the hotel. The arms instructor glanced back at Matt. "Must be feeling a bit anticlimactic to you, huh?" He asked with a smirk. He turned and thanked the man who had driven them and got out.

Matt glowered in the backseat. "It's not over yet," he told the arms instructor. He was silent after that, contemplating his next move. He still had a flight to catch, an ID to pick up and some wardrobe changes to make.

Once in the hotel the arms instructor glanced at Mello and frowned. "You need to go to bed," he ordered.

Mello's eyes flash and he raised his chin. "Not without talking to Matt too," he growled and met the teacher's eyes defiantly. He knew if he left the teacher might very well decide things and let Matt go before he woke up.

The teacher sighed. "Neither of you are willing to make my life easy, are you?" He grumbled. "Blondie, why don't you grasp he doesn't need to talk to you? You're not part of the problem that needs to be fixed here so he's not interested." He knows these words were hurtful. But from all he'd observed, they were true. Mello lowered his eyes, knowing the truth too. "Go to bed," the teacher repeated. "You're not doing anyone any good making yourself sicker."

"If I wanted to make your life easy I'd not have left," Matt retorted, glancing at Mello. He didn't understand why he came all this way when he was clearly still mad at him. He wasn't happy with Mello either. But he winced on Mello's behalf at the arms instructor's words. They were true, but harsh. "I didn't bail cause you pulled that shit," he said to Mello, wondering if he had come out of a sense of guilt. Hopefully not; that was just stupid. He didn't run away cause of some little argument; that was what wimps did.

"Whatever," Mello muttered to them both. He glanced at the teacher then sighed and walked toward the elevator.

Matt watched Mello go, frowning. He did seem pretty ill. What was he doing, running around outside when he was sick? What a weirdo.

"And take some medicine," the teacher called after him. "You need to get some good rest." Mello didn't acknowledge this but the teacher didn't mind. After the elevator doors close and Mello was gone the teacher gestured for Matt to follow him and headed into the bar area. "Okay. Time to get to business. The school is offering you a job."

They sat down at a table, Matt slouching, but he straightened up a bit at the instructor's unexpected words. His eyes widen in surprise. "What sort of job...?" He asked guardedly, unsure if this was a trick to try and make him stay at Wammy's. It probably was.

"Security," the arms instructor told him. "It's a bit shameful that an advanced school's security system was hacked by a child within a week." He smiled slightly.

The waitress came over and he ordered a drink and an appetizer. When she left he tapped the table, looking thoughtful. "Officially you'd still be a student. You have to be, per the agreement with the authorities. And you'd have to take a few classes at least. Chemistry, algebra, English..." He shrugged. "At least two and then whatever electives you want. Such as language and classes like mine. Or gym." He smirked a bit at that. "You'd be paid..." He paused. "And have a key to the computer lab. And I'd work with you to bring the rest of your belongings over. You'd get your own room so you could have as much as you want."

Matt had to catch his jaw as it dropped. This...this he had not been expecting. He thought if they were going to force him back they'd take away all his computers, his stuff, and leave him to be utterly miserable. But this... this was a serious proposition, as far as he could tell. Somewhere where he could exercise his hacking abilities, and get better, and not through illegal means.

He shifted in his seat uncomfortably, his mind racing through a thousand possibilities. He looked at the instructor, figuring his next move. "So you want me to give the school a kickass security system," he said with a glint in his eye and a grin, realizing he'd been caught in the school's network. Of course he had; he had changed his last name to "Badass-Mofo" in the database. It was only a matter of time.

"Basically," the teacher agreed to his first question about the security system. The waitress brings them some bread and the potato skins he'd ordered.

"Tuesdays are bullshit," he said, thinking aloud. "If I had to do one of those classes, I guess I'd stick with martial arts, but no track. And NO swimming. Ever." He thought some more. "And don't think cause I'm saying this I'm agreeing to anything. Is this just you saying stuff, or a message from the school? And I got my own plans you know, plans that I've put a lot of resources into already." Like almost his entire bank account. "I'd have to think about it, at least."

He leaned back. "Neither, as it happens. It's an offer from Watari, the school founder who works with L. I got an email from him this morning. He stays informed and knew Mello and I were tracking you."

"Of course, of course," he agreed to Matt thinking about it. "You can sleep on it. Here, if you want, or in your own hotel room." He paused then. "But if you leave this hotel I'll be keeping something of yours as pledge you won't just disappear. If your answer is no I still need to keep tabs on you. If for no other reason than to send you the stuff you left at the school."

Matt took a piece of bread and slowly shredded it as his mind goes over all this stuff. "Watari, huh," he murmured. This person who he didn't even know was reaching out to him, and it was... odd. He'd never received an offer like this before, at least not of the legal variety. No one had ever really expected much of him, apart from his nefarious clients. It touched him in a way he was unused to. "...Wait, so does that mean that L knows about me?" This made him grin.

"I'm sleeping on it at my own place," he said decisively. He huffed a little about at the instructor's requirements. Keep something of his? And the second half was completely out of the question. "...Fine, I'll do that first thing," he said. "But if my answer is no you're not keeping tabs on me. For any reason." He had already left the equipment at the school behind once, and though he didn't like it, he'd do it again if he really had to.

The teacher shrugged. "If you insist," he said blandly. "I'll leave it to you what you want to use a pledge. But trust me if it's not something of value I'll have you followed." He smirked a bit and took a potato skin.

Matt debated what to offer; something of value. Did that mean to him, or to others? With great reluctance he solemnly took his console out of his pocket and slid it over to the other side of the table. He frowned. "Be gentle with it," he said, his hands feeling suddenly empty.

The man picked it up carefully, looking equally solemnly. "Don't worry, video games," he said and his mouth twitched. "I won't break it."

His finger tapped the table again. "If you don't mind, I'll send Mello back in the morning. He's done his part of the job and I'd rather not have him underfoot. Besides, he needs to get back to the school." He knew how much it will shame Mello to be treated like a subordinate in this but it's preferable to Mello being punished for going off on his own without permission.

Matt shook his head at the instructor in amusement. "Didn't he come all this way just to find me, though?" He can't see Mello just up and leaving after going on a week-long manhunt. He sighed. "I think either way, we probably have unfinished business. You can tell him whatever you like, but I dunno if he'll listen."

"Leave that to me," he told Matt. "He'll go. And you can deal with unfinished business when you go back to the school." He was silent a moment. "He did come to find you," he commented. "I think he views you as a partner. It's not something someone like him would take lightly." He shook his head. "Still…he's sick and needs to go back."

"If I go back," he corrected the instructor, not wanting him to make any assumptions. He shook his head at the notion of being someone's 'partner;' he was no one's partner but his own. He wasn't suited to it. And it was an intriguing offer, but he had sunk a lot of money into his escape, and it's still not New York. "I'm going now," he told the instructor as he stood up. "I'll come back tomorrow and give you my answer. This Watari, he's asking me to abandon my home, you know." He eyed his console, his hands twitching a bit, not wanting to leave it. But eventually he managed to tear his eyes away and go.

The teacher got up too. "Right. Because your home sounds like a wonderful place from what you've said." He shrugged and gestured to the waitress who was cleaning another table. She nodded and held up a finger. He walked Matt out and turned to go back in without watching what direction Matt was going in.

Matt was wary that he could very well be followed back, so he took a long, round-about route, keeping his eyes out for any movement from any direction. He doubled back on himself twice and walked through several narrow corridors between buildings. It wasn't not a safe route, but it didn't sound like they know where he was staying, so it was better this way. Still, it took him a couple hours to get back with this method. He locked the down and lied on the motel bed, a lot of thoughts weighing heavily on his mind.


	10. The Two Ms

Surprise chapter and small hiatus. My next few weeks are going to be extremely busy so I'm putting this chapter up early and leaving this until June. Please rate and review to make the writers feel good!

**Chapter 10 The Two Ms**

Despite the teacher's confidence he could make Mello go the next morning, it didn't quite work that well. "I'm not going anywhere until it's decided," Mello said stubbornly after the arms instructor told him about the offer that he'd given Matt. And he didn't listen to anything else the man said. After a few minutes the teacher sighed and gave up. Fine, whatever. They waited at the hotel for Matt to come.

Matt laid on his bed for hours, contemplating his decision. It really shouldn't be so hard, should it? His loyalty was to his home. And it was true it wasn't perfect, not by a long shot, but it was what he knew, where he had been born and raised by his mother, at least for a while. What was Wammy's? Some school in England he had been carted off to. Who was Mello? Some guy he had known for a week.

Still...they had done a lot together in that week. Blown up a cereal box. Had a drink. Shot guns. Screwed up a coffee shop. Hell, he had "bought" makeup for the guy. And the guy had chased him across the country, for whatever reason. And then there was the school, which was giving him an opportunity to make use of his skills for something good for once.

He eventually fell asleep and woke up in the morning, to a call from the front desk, saying he had received a message. He went to get it and is handed an envelope. Back in his room he opened it; the ID was sleek as hell. No one would guess that it was a fake; it was even made from the same plastic. And the picture...Matt couldn't help but think he looked rather cute as a girl. But he frowned as he stared at it; this piece of plastic had cost him thousands of dollars, and the woman he had bribed thousands more. Half had been paid up front already. He had risked everything with his plan. Could he really just give it up like that?

He considered leaving right then, getting out of the city and returning only for his flight tomorrow. They didn't know of his plan. But the army instructor still had his console. He tried to pass it from his mind, told himself he didn't need it. But it was more than the games. That console had been a gift from his mother. It was years ago and it was an old model, but it was the one time that it didn't matter to him. Try as he might, he couldn't leave it.

So it was with a heavy heart that Matt dragged his feet back to the hotel, the cold beating on him harder than usual. If the right decision was to carry on with his plan, then why did he feel so bad? He hadn't felt that way yesterday. He stopped in front of the hotel's entrance, staring at the sign for some minutes.

Mello hadn't been able to stand waiting inside with the silent teacher any longer. The man's frustration that Mello had refused to leave had been palpable and filled the atmosphere of the room until he'd fled outside. He was sitting on a boulder on the far side of the hotel reading a book.

He glanced up once and noticed Matt. His face went expressionless. He slipped the small, leather bound book into his coat pocket and approached Matt, his tired mind trying to think of what to say. He wasn't mad still. But when he saw the other boy and thought of him leaving anger and frustration stirred in him. He didn't want to be locked away at the school anymore. In the week Matt had been there things had been...interesting. The prospect of how dull it would be after Matt was gone made him wince inwardly. "Hey," he greeted Matt when he was a few feet away. He stopped there, his hands tucked into his pockets and his breath clouding around his face.

Matt had been so absorbed in thought he hadn't noticed the other boy approach until he spoke. He snapped back to reality, and for a moment a smile flickered across his face. He couldn't help it; part of him was happy to see Mello.

"Hey," he said, the smile replaced by a frown. He looked at the ground with his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet. He didn't say anything for a long time, feeling as though he was stuck in eternal limbo.

"...I can't do it," he said softly, staring at the ground. "I can't." He paused, something else on the tip of his tongue. "Look. I'm sorry for all those shitty things I said. I was pissed off, and I acted like a huge dick." He shrugged his shoulders. "Just thought you should know."

"You did at that," he said with a slight smirk. But after a moment it faded and he sneezed. "But yeah I-" he looked away. "Guess I'm sorry too. For what I did. And for punching you yesterday."

Mello shrugged. "Don't worry. I didn't expect you to come back." Frustration stirred again and flickered in his eyes; he looked away. He brought one hand out of his pocket. There was a crumpled piece of paper gripped in that hand. "I wrote down my email if you want to...stay in touch or something."

Matt nodded at the other boy. "No worries," he said quietly. He wasn't going to hold his grudge anymore. There was no point to it. But Mello seemed to be taking the news pretty well. And why did that upset him?

Matt slowly reached out his hand and accepted the paper. "Thanks," he said. "I just might." And he meant it. But there was one lingering question in his mind; he wasn't ready to leave yet. "Ah...Why did you come after me, all this way? I don't get it."

The moment Matt took the paper Mello put his hand back in his pocket to hide the slight tremor. His face was carefully controlled but he was struggling to keep down the turmoil of emotion. He was not angry, he kept repeating to himself. Why then did he want to grab Matt and force him to come back? He'd promised they weren't dragging him back...

He swallowed, his hands clenching into fists in his pockets. This was the type of thing that made him punch walls. "I didn't want you to just disappear," he said softly, not looking at Matt but out over the nearby forest. "I...knew you would leave eventually but I figured it would be a little longer and that we'd say good bye." He shrugged, a flush coming over fair skin. "Guess that sounds stupid." His voice was getting softer. "But I just didn't want..." He fell silent altogether. Stupid stupid stupid.

Matt's face twitched with conflicting emotion at the other boy's words. His lips twitched, and he had to look away before his expression betrayed him. He didn't know what to say. He'd never really felt like a criminal before, even though he'd done criminal acts, so then why did he feel like a villain right now?

"It's my home, dude," he said slowly, trying to explain himself to Mello, wanting him to understand. "It's where I belong. It's... not perfect, but... neither am I." His face twitched again and he swiped at his eyes with his sleeve.

Mello nodded, ignoring the prickling of his eyes. He blinked a few times, still looking out over the forest and was glad for the excuse he had to sniff. "I know," he said, doing his best to keep his voice neutral and speak more clearly than he had before. "You've been too miserable at the school."

Everything about this moment felt wrong. They were both unhappy. Matt was making both of them unhappy. Why the hell was he unhappy? He rocked back on his feet, once, then twice, then took a step forward and hugged Mello. "I'm sorry," he whispered, fighting to control his emotions. "For everything."

The hug caught Mello off guard. He hesitantly patted Matt's back. "Hey don't worry about it," he said and managed a smile. "You'll have fun again. And I'll play your video games." He doubted he would. Even the thought stung when he considered it.

Matt nodded and took a deep breath. He held the hug a little longer than he probably should have, and broke away hesitantly. He put his hands in his pockets and stared at the ground. His eyes were red from the effort of holding himself back.

"Y-You'll never beat my high scores," he managed, with a laugh that came out like a choke. He bit his lip and rocked on his heels. It was the time for him to turn around and leave, but it seemed like a monumental task and his feet felt like lead.

Mello snorted. "Yeah whatever. And don't do anything stupid. I don't want to hear about you going to prison."

Matt chuckled a little despite himself. "Yeah, didn't you know? I'm going to be your nemesis now. Wasn't that the whole point of this?"

A few moments pass then Mello sighed and took the console out of the inside pocket of his coat. "The teacher gave me this to give back to you when I came outside," he said softly. He'd known if Matt's answer was no he wouldn't want to come inside and speak to him anymore.

He was so caught up in the turmoil he had almost forgotten about his console; how could he have? It was the whole reason he had come back. Wasn't it? He took the console from Mello, tucking it into his pocket. "Thanks..." He felt its smooth surface, gripping it tightly.

This was it. There was nothing left to say. He looked at Mello with his red eyes, shook his head, and turned to leave, his breath caught in his chest.

Mello hunched his shoulders and watched Matt walk away, struggling more than ever to keep himself under control. He would've gone after Matt, he knew he would've…but that chance is taken from him.

While they had been talking a black car had driven by the hotel a few times. The moment Matt got out of the hotel parking lot the black car passed again. This time it pulled up to the sidewalk and stopped. In seconds a dark haired young man, smiling a little in amusement, hopped out, grabbed Matt and pulled him into the car and it drove away. Mello stared for a few seconds then turned and ran into the hotel.

"Oi! What the hell?!" Matt yelled as he was suddenly stuffed into a strange car. No way. He wasn't just kidnapped, was he? This was just fucking great. He glanced wildly around as the car sped off.

"Hey! Hey! Let me out!" He yelled, thumping on the door, panic setting in. He glanced around wildly. The man who had grabbed him looked to be a young adult in his 20s. He had dark bags under his eyes - probably a pedophile - and was sitting in an extremely peculiar position.

"Calm down now, I will," the young man told Matt. But the car was leaving the town and circling around towards one of the nearby castles. He leaned back and studied Matt intently, not seeming to realize how this must seem. Or he did realize and didn't care.

Matt didn't know what to make of the man's words, but his assertion didn't exactly help. "What the hell is this? Where are you taking me, you fucking pervert?" He kicked the seat in front of him viciously. He looked out the window; they were leaving the town. Fuck. Oh fuck. This was bad. Had Mello seen? It might be his only chance.

"I am not a pervert," the man informed him and put a hand on Matt's knee. "Stop kicking. You'll hurt Watari." They pull up to the old castle and L whistled. "I always love these kinds of places," he said cheerfully. "Mind if we go for a walk?"

Watari. He remembered the name instantly. His face expressed surprise, then confusion, then bewilderment. "Watari...?" He stopped kicking and tried to look around the seat. So this was the Watari who knew of him. Then could this other person be...

No way. Matt stared at the man dumbly, though he noticed when they stop. He looked out the window again. They were at a... castle? This had gone from confusing to...more confusing. He didn't respond, his heart still hammering in his chest, but he got out of the car and followed the other, his body tense all over.

After they got out the car pulled away. L put his hands in his pockets and started walking. "Sorry for startling you. We would've pulled into the parking lot and invited you in but you looked like you were having such a touching moment with the other M we didn't want to interrupt. And when we came back around you were leaving so we had to act quick."

Matt felt a bit better now that the car had pulled away, but he was still at a castle with a strange man who may... or may not be... the world-famous L. If he'd been made aware of the occasion he might have been flattered but as it stood, he was disoriented and on his guard. "So what do you want with me?" He asked gruffly, his hands in his pockets, gripping his console.

"Nothing," L replied casually, stopping and peering up at the high stone wall. "I just wanted to meet the boy who turned Wammy's house on its ear before you disappeared back into the American underworld. Watari and I had a bet going whether you'd accept the job offer or not. I don't know why he bets against me though. Guess he still thinks kindly of people."

He stared at the older man in bewilderment, then cracked up laughing. He couldn't help it; this situation was so bizarre. When he collected himself, he grinned at L. "So the great L bet I wouldn't, huh," he said with a grin. "Guess they don't call you the best for nothing. What'd you bet anyways?" He was curious now.

"A month's worth of desserts against a first edition book Watari wanted," he replied solemnly. "After we talk here Watari is treating me to a cake at the bakery in town to start the month." He smiled in anticipation.

Matt snickered at this. "Desserts, huh?" He could relate; junk food was pretty great, and desserts were a kind of junk food, weren't they? "I get that."

He followed L through the castle a few paces behind, watching him in curiosity. He had a whole set of bizarre traits; the way he held things, the way he walked, even the way he looked at things. He almost looked spaced out, but Matt knew that couldn't be the case. The guy was a legendary genius. "I heard of you, before Wammy's, you know," he said to the older man. "But they say no one's ever seen you."

L shrugged, looking up at an ancient painting of some long dead lord. "Going out is a pain. And of course nobody ever sees 'L'. It'd hardly make sense for me to go around introducing myself as that when I do go out, now would it?" He moved on. "You'd know all about that though. Even before we got hold of you your name was being forgotten. That's not very common. Most people cling to their names like it's something important. Even a lot of students at Wammy's house go back to their real names when they transfer to other schools."

Matt followed L's line of sight to the painting, though it didn't particularly interest him. The person he was with was far more interesting, in his opinion. "I suppose that makes sense," he conceded with a small smile.

He considered L's second point. "Name's aren't really that important," he said casually. "They're just a bunch of sounds grouped together, like any other word, and words change all the time. I never went by my real one online. I got a lot of names, and one main handle for my work. Not a lot of people call me by my real name anymore. But it's just a piece of data, and data gets lost all the time, and most people hardly notice at all."

"Lost in the slush pile," L remarked absently. Though he didn't elaborate on that thought. He turned and kept walking. "It is interesting," he remarked. "Watari wasn't sure about giving you a name that started with M. The other M is such a firebrand he thought for sure that would mark you out as a hated rival for him. Even more than N since you shared his letter. A rival for his rank or place or whatever theory the teachers are forming and whispering about now concerning the code names. But you two seemed to get along pretty well."

Matt nodded, feeling he somehow understood what L meant. He supposed he had been lost for a long time, himself. "Ugh, yeah what was up with giving me such a boring name?" He asked L. "Who decided on Matt?" He made a face.

L's mentioning of Mello made him think. "Yeah, he's not so bad once you get past his temper," he said with a slight smile. "He's a good guy, for the most part. Bit of a sweet tooth himself."

L smiled. "I did, actually," he told him, sounding amused. "Not for you personally. But on the list for incoming students. It was Watari's decision to give it to you. I think he was curious what would happen with the two M's." He continued to walk with his slouched amble.

This made Matt laugh a bit again. "So what, like a human guinea pig experiment?" He asked. "Or like two Beta fish? Stick em together and see if they kill each other? That's twisted dude." But he was grinning about it; it was like some odd practical joke, in a way. He could appreciate that.

"Well, in a way Wammy's house is one big social experiment," he said off-handedly, looking uninterested. "And if M had been a name given to almost anyone else it would've created fiction between the two. Most of the students at the House are extremely competitive."

"Heh, sounds about right," he said, agreeing with L's logic. He didn't really mind being part of a social experiment as long as it was interesting enough. He continued following L. "So you really just wanted to meet me?" He asked. "Cause like, I'm flattered dude, but I'm not _that_ interesting; at least, probably not to someone like you."

"On the contrary, I find you very interesting. I don't deal with kids very often and this was quite...fun. Particularly the reactions it caused in you and in the other M. He will be jealous of you by now. We should head back."

"Well I guess you're not so bad yourself," Matt said with a smile. He was tempted to high-five the detective but he had a feeling he'd be left hanging, so he didn't. Instead he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away. "I don't think Mello will ever find out about this," he said. "After all, I'm not going back to Wammy's."

L smiled. "He already knows," he told Matt. "It would've been...unpleasant if we'd gotten your teacher coming after us, guns blazing. So Watari contacted him about us being in town this morning. After he dropped us off he went to have tea with them. He'll come pick us up in a few minutes."

He rubbed one barefoot against the leg of his jeans. They were feeling a little cold against the stone floor. "Besides, you should talk to the other M one more time," he said casually. "Or you could email him if you'd rather. It is tiresome talking to people face to face. Way too much drama." He shrugged absently and kept walking, seeing a little more before they leave.

Matt was rather taken aback by this. "Damn, you work quickly," he grumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "Wish I had a sidekick like that."

He kicked a rock on the ground. He thought meeting someone like L would be more...epic, or revealing, or something. He could definitely use a cooler outfit, maybe a cape. His expression became sad at L's mention of speaking to Mello. "I got nothin' left to say to him though," he said, glowering at the ground. In person or via email, they had already said their goodbyes.

L studied him, looking vaguely interested. "Really?" He asked. "Then why do you look like someone stole your cake? I thought you'd be excited about going back to New York."

He turned and watched the car threading its way through the trees as it approached the castle. "Though like I said, I don't pretend to know kids. Is it your nap time or something? Didn't mean to stop you from going back to your hotel and resting."

Matt looked at L in surprise. Like someone took his cake...? That can't be right... He thought about this for some time. "I don't know," he finally admitted. "Yesterday, I was ready to do anything to get away from this place and go home. But today feels...different, and I don't get why. It doesn't make sense," he confided. "The whole time I've been here, I've been thinking about getting back to New York. So why should that change, just cause some guy I hardly know chased me down with another guy who offered me a job?" He watched the car approach them and grumbled, "Nap time? How old do you think I am?"

"Dunno," he replied vaguely and shrugged. "I still like naps when I'm not busy and I certainly liked them at Wammy's house. So don't see age makes such a difference for that."

He stepped toward the car but glanced back. "I wouldn't know the answer to your other question. I'd guess maybe you're ready for a change. But if you don't know why you're not happy about leaving, how should I know?" He got into the car.

Matt frowned and crossed his arms at this. "You know, you may be the world's greatest detective, but you give real shitty advice," he grumbled. He followed L into the car and stared out the window silently.

"Who ever said I give good advice?" L asked and put his hands behind his head, leaning back at an angle and looking at the ceiling.

Ready for a change, huh? Matt mulled those words over in his head. What kind of crap was that? He was always changing, adapting, and learning new things. But then... why hadn't he adapted to Wammy's? He twitched at that thought, his failure.

"...I guess I'm maybe a little scared," he said self-consciously, to the window, not really talking to anyone in particular. The words stung, but there was a ring of truth to them. "I'm used to living by myself, doing what I want." He sighed. "I stopped going to school, back home. And Wammy's has all these rules about what I have to do, and what I can and can't do...And there's so many people around, all the time..." He swallowed. "I was used to being alone." Damn, this shit hurt to say out loud.

Watari glanced at L and at Matt in the rear view mirror. Really. L could be such a brat sometimes. "You would have more freedom with this job," he commented, speaking for the first time. "Much more." And that was all he said right then. He was sure he didn't need to list the specifics of that freedom for Matt to understand. Even if on paper he was a student he would really be a paid employee and so not be limited to the student rules as much.

It was the first time he had heard Watari speak, and it caught him off-guard. He studied the figure, from what he can see of his back and the mirror reflection. He looked almost...grandfatherly, somehow, from what Matt could tell. His eyes seemed kind.

"Why are you even offering me this job in the first place?" He asked the elderly man. "I'm a criminal, remember? You really trust me with the school's security system? I mean, what's the catch?"

"For the same reason you were brought to the school in the first place," he told Matt. "You're an extremely talented boy. I wanted to see that talent put to good use."

He fixed his eyes back on the road. "You need a chance to test your abilities and for them to grow in a setting that won't land you in prison. I wanted the school to provide that setting. If it can't for you as a student then you can explore your abilities as an employee and have more freedom. As long as you don't abuse that freedom _too_ much there is no catch." For a split second he met Matt's eyes through the mirror. "I'm trusting you to be honorable. If you make me regret it...well, you'll regret it too." L began to whistle a merry tune, still apparently fascinated with the roof of the car.

Matt thought about this. So the person who was responsible for bringing him here hadn't seen him as a criminal? Even Mello had seen him as a criminal, at least at first. He had no idea what Mello thought of him now. Probably that he was an asshole. He hadn't done anything to make Watari believe in him, yet he did. Why was that? He didn't deserve it. It amounted to blind faith.

And although he took pleasure in causing others trouble, he didn't want to go to prison. Where he was from, they were overcrowded. He probably wouldn't last a day, even though he could get along just fine elsewhere. He had seen hardened criminals, and he had sense enough to know he wasn't like them. Those guys who'd slit your throat if you so much as looked at them the wrong way, they'd have him gutted within an hour.

So then maybe this decision was more than just about home, and being where he felt he belonged. It was about choosing a side. Wammy's and New York lay before him, in perfect dichotomy. New York, where he'd have all the freedom in the world as long as he didn't get caught, and would continue his life with his clients and illegal activities, associates who wanted revenge, or to cause a little trouble here and there, or play the system and get filthy rich. And Wammy's, where there were rules and curfews and a small little town that was nothing like New York, but where he was being asked to serve a higher purpose, to make use of his talents for something better than what he'd made for himself. Than what he believed he was capable of.

This older man, who believed in him more than anyone else ever had in his entire life, made him want to be better. He took a deep breath and stilled his hands, which shook from the stress of this monumental decision. It was a decision that would affect his entire life tremendously.

He grasped his console in his pocket, a sacred memento that he had risked just to come back and say no. If he cleared his name, became a hacker of prestige instead of infamy, maybe he'd be able to return to New York one day, as himself. But if he did, he would come back better than when he had left.

He let out a heavy, burdened and slightly sarcastic groan. "Well, I'd hate to disappoint an old man," he said with a forced smirk.

"I prefer to be called experienced," Watari told him mildly, smiling. Beside Matt, L sighed gustily and turned to look out the window, an annoyed, petulant expression coming over his features. Watari's smile widened. "I look forward to getting that book, L," he informed the younger man smugly.

"Noted," he said to Watari. "And I ain't decided nothing yet. I got some conditions, and I gotta talk with the powers that be first." He'd let L hold out some hope for a few more minutes anyways. Though he did notice the detective's change of expression, and it made him snicker.

When they get back to the hotel the arms instructor was sitting at the cafe downstairs with a newspaper. He glanced up when they came in and waved. "Oh good, you found him," he commented. As if he hadn't been told that they'd grabbed Matt off the street. He looked comfortable and at ease. Truly as if he'd simply been waiting for Matt to come and give his answer still. "Matt, Mello is up in the room packing. Why don't you go tell him to come down?" He asked off hand and offered a key. "It's 213."

Matt walked into the hotel and saw the arms instructor completely at ease, just like the cool jackass he was. It made him grin as he lit a cigarette right in the cafe, much to the employees' dismay. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be your little errand boy I guess," he said, taking the key. "But I gotta talk to ya both actually. Just a sec." And he took off down the hallway, trailing cigarette smoke and walking with a casual gait.

He got to the door and rapped on it with the back of his knuckles sternly. "We got a code 42 and need you to evacuate the premises immediately!" He yelled at the door. "You got exactly ten seconds before this whole place goes up in smoke!"

Inside the room there was a loud thump of someone caught off guard and muffled oaths. Despite this it was a few minutes before the door opened.

Mello looked at Matt. He was only in long sleeves and pants and socks. He'd reapplied the make up quickly but there was some streaks in it. "Was that really necessary?" He muttered, looking bad tempered. "What do you want?"

Matt can't help but laugh at the noises from inside the room, vocal and otherwise. He blinked at the other boy's disheveled appearance, and laughed some more. He put his hands over his heart. "Aw, and here I thought you'd be happy to see me," he said dramatically, wiping a pretend tear from his eye. Then he straightened up. "C'mon blondie, I got somethin' to say, and I ain't saying it twice." He grabbed him by the hand and towed him down the hallway.

"What do you-" Mello fell silent when Matt grabbed his hand and they were running. He should've put on shoes before he came to the door. He'd been so focused on making the streaks in the foundation less apparent that other things hadn't come to mind.

"That was quick," the teacher commented. He had a cup of coffee now and Watari had tea. L was sitting oddly in his chair, stirring hot chocolate and sulking.

Matt led Mello to beside the army instructor then dropped his cigarette butt in the ashtray on the table. He stood before the odd assortment of individuals with a firm stance, his hands in his pockets. "I suppose you're wondering why I gathered you all here today," he said, sighing deeply. "It seems that in one short week, I've irreversibly changed the lives of the four people before me with my awesomeness and epic skills." He grinned mischievously. "As my most loyal fans, your efforts have not gone unnoticed, and as my fellow celebrities would say, I am nothing without my supporters. So I'm making you an offer."

He looked between the army instructor and Watari. "I ain't doing track, or swimming, or English. I already know how to read." He pretended to think a bit. "And if you want me getting anything done at all outside of all these classes you're making me take, that curfew's gotta change." Then he turned and looked at Mello squarely. "And I know part of the deal involved me getting my own space, but here's the thing. A ton of my stuff's already in a room at Wammy's, and it would be a pain in the ass to move it all. It took me forever to get everything settled already, and I don't really wanna have to do it again." He grinned at the blonde boy. "So the room situation has gotta stay. And I'm sorry people, but this is a make or break deal." He bowed overly formerly to everyone, but then looked at Mello. "My fate is in your hands."

There was silence for a few heartbeats after Matt fell silent, as if they were expecting him to say more. Then the first sound was a clatter as L set down his hot chocolate a little roughly and got up. He slouched out, a sulky expression even more apparent on his face.

Matt watched L leave in obvious amusement. For a world-famous detective, he sure had one hell of a pouty face. He patiently waits for the others' responses, but particularly Mello's. He had already spoken to the army instructor about most of this.

Mello watched L go then noticed that the two remaining adults are focused on him. "Wait, I'm deciding?" He asked in evident surprise. Somehow despite Matt addressing him he hadn't realized that he'd actually be the one who could decide whether Matt stayed his roommate, considering the others present are a teacher and the founder himself. "Course we can still share a room," he muttered and met Matt's eyes swiftly before looking away.

He smirked delightedly at Mello's response, only realizing then that he had been holding his breath. His speech had been partly in jest, but he still felt a certain sense of relief. It was true that he wouldn't have gone back if Mello hated his guts.

Watari nodded and sipped his tea. "As for the curfew...as you'll be doing security you don't have to worry about it." He paused. "God help us," he added, but he seemed more amused then worried. The arms instructor, who as a teacher will have to deal more directly with the issue this posed, groaned.

"Well, I think this calls for a celebratory smoke then," Matt said, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it before offering the pack around, a waitress made displeased sounds behind him. He sat down and took a long drag.

The teacher snorted and shook his head, rubbing his eyes. "Easy for you to say, Watari," he grumbled at the founder and took a cigarette when Matt passed the case to him. Watari declined the cigarette.

Feeling a bit stunned by the sudden turn around, Mello climbed into the chair L had left and pulled his feet under him to make it less obvious he was in socks. He took the cigarette container when it was passed to him and took one out before passing it back to Matt. Watari frowned. "You've corrupted him," he commented. Mello snorted, and a little more at ease reached over to light it on the lighter the arms instructor was holding out. Watari shook his head and got up. "Well, I should probably take my leave."

Matt laughed at Watari's suggestion. "If holding out a package is all it takes to corrupt someone, then this whole planet is screwed," he commented with a wry smile. But then his smile was replaced by a more solemn expression. "Thanks," he said to Watari. "For what you said, back there."

Watari nodded solemnly and patted Matt's shoulder as he passed. "It wasn't anything but the truth, but I'm glad I was able to help." Putting his hat on his head he walked out.

Matt mulled over his decision in his head as he smoked his cigarette. He still wasn't sure he'd made the right choice, but he supposed a lot of big things in life were that way. Either way it had been his decision, completely, and wasn't that important?


End file.
